Notes
by J3d1M0nk3ySp0ck
Summary: Janto AU All kids have secrets; some more than others. Sometimes the things you can't say are easier to express on paper. And sometimes music can convey so much more than words. Warnings: slash, char bashing, child abuse,violence, language, sex **8/23/14-I'M SORRY TO ANYONE WHO MAY HAVE ENJOYED THIS, BUT IT'S OFFICIALLY ABANDONED. I JUST DON'T KNOW WHERE TO GO WITH IT ANYMORE**
1. First Day pt 1

_**Notes **_

**AN: here we go again! *hangs head and scuffs toe in adorable hang dog fashion* actually I received a few PMs from people saying they couldn't comment on the revised chapters. I realized that was because I re-uploaded the new chapters on the old link and the system was stopping people from commenting twice on what was basically the same chapter. Hopefully that makes sense. **

**Once again this is a re-write and some parts will seem **_**very**_** similar to my story 'The Interloper'. Please Read & Review**

**First Day pt 1:**

It was a little after midnight but Tosh was still awake. She really shouldn't be up, tomorrow was the first day of fall term after all, but she couldn't sleep. Instead she was sitting in her comfortable desk chair, best birthday present ever, blasting music in her noise canceling headphones and fooling around with the programming of her desktop, all the while using her laptop to surf for game cheats and new threads. The strains of the soundtrack for Final Fantasy VI drifted into the quiet room as she pulled one side of the headphones down to her jaw.

Was that tapping?

Curious, Tosh pulled the second headphone off to let the set hang on her neck. She jumped when the tapping came again, this time much louder. Whirling around Tosh barely managed to suppress a surprised squeak when she spotted her best friend's pale face in the window.

"What the hell? Ianto!"

Ianto Jones smiled sheepishly from where he was huddled by her bedroom window, looking cold and quite pathetic in an overlarge white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. He was only 14 but was starting year 11 same as Tosh. They'd been best friends since primary school and only lived two houses apart on the same street.

The tapping repeated and Tosh glanced over to see Ianto staring up at her in annoyance, pointedly shivering. Tosh rolled her eyes; drama queen. Standing up quickly Tosh muttered a curse when the headphone cord caught and jerked her head back down. Still grumbling quietly she crossed the room and quickly flipping the lock, she pulled the window open slowly, hoping to avoid the loud squeak of the old wood frames. It mostly worked, and Ianto slid easily into the room, carefully weaving around the many errant cords strung across the room to perch familiarly on her bed, drawing his knees into his chest to conserve body heat.

Tosh draped her comforter around his thin shoulders and dragged her chair over so she could sit facing him.

"What happened Ianto, its gone 11?"

The boy shrugged, averting his eyes to anything other than her knowing gaze.

"What, a bloke can't go for a walk and pop in to see his best friend?"

He tried to joke but a quick glance at his friend's face told him it wasn't working. With a small sigh he conceded,

"My tad's home. He locked me out again."

Tosh moved to sit next to him on the bed and wrapped a comforting arm around his shoulders,

"I'm sorry Yan.."

She began but trailed off when he flinched away from her with a hiss of pain.

Tosh ripped the comforter from his grasp and before he could protest, bunched his t-shirt up under his armpits and angrily clenched her teeth. His back and shoulders were littered with fresh bruises, scattered over the top of old scars and faded yellow blotches of skin.

"Ianto-"

She began but was cut off by Ianto when he angrily jerked his t-shirt back down.

"Just leave it Tosh."

Biting her lip, Tosh sighed and gave him a gentle hug. Ianto relaxed into the familiar embrace and let his eyes close.

The next morning when Ianto woke up alone in Tosh's bed he was confused for a moment before he remembered. Last night, arguing with his dad about school, getting chucked out in his sleep clothes, ending up at Tosh's house, god, how pathetic was that?

Sitting up he rubbed his eyes wearily and checked the clock on her tidy desk, 6:34 AM. Rolling off the bed Ianto walked to the door and opened it. Tosh's mom was in the hallway putting away some clean linen in the cupboard.

"Good morning Ianto."

She said pleasantly.

Ianto blushed and looked at his feet before responding.

"Good morning Mrs. Sato."

The woman smiled fondly at the boy and leant down to reach into her laundry basket. As she straightened back up the older woman held out a clean school uniform which Ianto accepted with a questioning look on his face.

Seeing his confusion Mrs. Sato explained,

"You left it here last week after pictures* when it rained and you both got soaked on your way home."

Ianto nodded gratefully,

"Thanks Mrs. Sato, I really appreciate it."

"No problem at all Ianto. Tosh is downstairs watching telly, you get dressed and have some cereal."

Going to the bathroom Ianto stripped off and twisted his body to see his back in the mirror. Grimacing he dressed, ignoring the dull ache in his shoulders, and washed his face. Less than twenty minutes later he and Tosh were standing at the door, ready to walk to school when Mrs. Sato came up and handed Ianto a warm coat.

"It's Mr. Sato's old coat, Ianto, you can borrow it today. And here are your lunches."

She said, holding out two brown paper sacks. Ianto opened his mouth to protest, but Mrs. Sato held up a hand saying,

"No trouble dear. Off you go."

Blinking, Ianto snapped his mouth closed and with a small smile and nod, followed Tosh out the door.

They walked in front of Ianto's house and he resolutely looked straight ahead at the sidewalk. Tosh however, hesitated at his front step.

"Ianto, won't you need your school bag or something?"

Ianto shrugged and continued walking,

"Why? It's first day back, we never do anything anyway and I'm sure my best friend wouldn't think twice about lending me a pencil or two."

Tosh rolled her eyes and hurried to catch up nearly colliding with Lisa who was hurrying out her own front door. The two girls laughed and hugged warmly while Ianto resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

_Girls, you'd think they hadn't seen one another in months. _

Lisa' cheerful voice cut through his musings.

"Morning Ianto! Excited for start of term? Hey where's your school bag?"

Tosh giggled into her hands as Ianto stormed off ahead. Lisa's voice carried after him,

"What? What did I say?"

Tosh burst out laughing harder and Ianto sped up, rounding the corner and walking straight into a solid wall of blue fabric. Startled, Ianto stepped back and found himself looking up into the grey-blue eyes of Jack Harkness.

"J-Jack."

He started, mentally cursing his nervous stutter and the pink stain on his cheeks. Tosh and Lisa came up behind him, both still giggling and Ianto threw them a glare.

Jack was grinning as he said teasingly,

"Well, good morning to you to Ianto."

Ianto smiled weakly at him and started walking again.

Laughing now, Jack threw an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders and Ianto flinched in pain and tried to ignore the way his breath caught in his throat at the friendly gesture. Tosh playfully elbowed him in the ribs, a knowing smirk on her face and Ianto felt his face flame again as he shoved her off with a glare.

They walked for a few minutes chatting idly about the new term and everyone's holidays until Jack realized his arm was still around Ianto's shoulders. He hastily withdrew it and caught the younger boy's resulting flinch.

"You ok?"

Ianto nodded, keeping his head down,

"'m fine."

Jack glanced at Tosh over Ianto's head and she grimaced, giving him a small head shake 'no'. Jack nodded in return, he wouldn't push.

As the foursome rounded the next corner in strained silence they met up with two other boys. One was tall and bulky, like a rugby player. He had light brown hair and a friendly face. The other boy was short and reed thin. He had black hair and his face was drawn up in a smirk.

"G'morning Rhys."

Jack greeted the taller of the two.

"Morning all."

He said back.

"Morning Owen," Jack said with a leery grin, "miss me last night?"

Owen scowled,

"Fuck off Harkness," he retorted good naturedly.

Jack laughed, and after everyone had greeted each other they continued their walk to school. Even with frequent stops in which Jack and Owen scuffled and Lisa and Tosh shared bits of gossip, they still managed to reach the school yard with a good ten minutes to spare before the first bell and milled about on the lawn.

Jack walked off to talk to a group of students by the gate, flirting outrageously with both the boys and the girls. Ianto followed him with his eyes and tried to keep down the accompanying stab of sadness until he was distracted by Rhys asking if he was going to play footie at lunch. Ianto shrugged and said maybe, the conversation continued until an arm wrapped around his shoulders, causing him to wince and jerk his head to the right.

John Hart was smirking at him.

"Morning Eye Candy!"

He said cheerfully, steering Ianto away from the group. Ianto glared at him and shrugged his arm off.

"Fuck off Hart!"

He said, turning to walk away.

John grabbed his arm, "c'mon Ianto, don't be rude. I just wanna talk to you."

Ianto tried to pull back but John had a firm grip on his arm and the movements made the deep bruises on his shoulders scream in protest.

"What do you want?"

He spat at the curly haired, handsome boy.

John grinned,

"I want you tell Jackie boy I said 'hello', that's all."

The taller boy started when a hand landed on his shoulder and he spun around, not releasing Ianto and twisting his arm somewhat painfully.

"Why don't you tell me yourself, John?"

Jack asked, eyes narrowed behind the fringe of his brown hair.

John smiled cheerily at his ex-boyfriend and dropped Ianto's arm.

"Hello Jackie boy."

He said jubilantly before sauntering off. Both Jack and Ianto watched his retreating back with similar expressions of disbelief on their faces. Turning back to Ianto, Jack frowned when he noticed the younger boy rubbing his arm absently.

Stepping closer Jack placed his hand over Ianto's on his arm,

"Are you alright? He didn't hurt you?"

Blushing for the third time that morning Ianto pulled his arm from Jack's gentle grasp.

"I'm fine."

Jack stared into the younger boys dark blue eyes and reached a hand out to brush a strand of wavy hair off his pale forehead.

"You sure?"

He asked softly and Ianto nodded, holding his breath.

Suddenly Jack removed his hand and Ianto had to fight with himself to keep from following after the reassuring touch. Jack shifted uneasily from one foot to the other before clearing his throat and saying quickly,

"See you inside yeah?"

Ianto nodded, "yeah."

And with a smile Jack backed away two steps before turning and jogging toward the entrance to the school. Staring after him, Ianto barely caught himself before he raised his own hand to trace where Jack's had been.

Frowning he turned to find Tosh standing just over his shoulder. He jumped and rolled his eyes,

"God Tosh, heart attack much?"

Tosh just stood there and smiled at Ianto until he grabbed her elbow, rolling his eyes once again, and dragged her toward school just as the warning bell rang.

***In my school you took pictures the day of orientation, a week or so before classes started. Also I needed this to be beginning of term but couldn't change that Mrs. Sato had a uniform for Ianto and needed a reason for it to be there… anywho R&R?**


	2. First Day pt 2

**First Day Part 2:**

Ianto crouched low to place several books back on a low shelf, ignoring his sore ribs and aching shoulder's protests to the action. He was in the very back of the library, nicknamed 'The Archives', where barely read autobiographies, damaged books, and old periodicals lined the tall shelves.

The librarian let Ianto eat lunch in the building when he came in to help recheck in books and put them away. For all intents and purposes he was hiding out in the orderly and quiet sanctuary.

His first day back had quickly turned to shit with the arrival of a new student and Owen teasing the hell out of him at lunch. It had started going south during registry. And after that it was like a bloody landslide.

_Earlier _

When it came time for maths Ianto followed Tosh into the classroom looking around for Jack, Ianto was sure Jack had said they had the same class. He didn't see him so he sat next to Tosh and pulled out the binder and pencil he'd retrieved from his locker. Owen sauntered into the room and slouched in the chair next to Tosh',

" 'lo Tosh" he said, rifling through his bag for a pencil.

Tosh smiled, cheeks tinted with a blush and muttered back, "hi Owen."

Next to her Ianto snickered, enjoying his revenge he poked her in the side with his mechanical pencil, _hi Owen _he mimicked. Tosh stomped his foot under the desk all the while smiling sweetly and got out her own notebook.

Ianto wiggled his toes and glanced at the door. A small smile formed on his face when he saw Jack walk through it but faded quickly when he noticed Jack talking to a girl he didn't recognize. She was making doe eyes at him, smiling widely as he flirted with her.

Ianto concentrated on staring at his desk, not even looking up when Jack sank into the seat next to him and Tosh greeted the older boy over Ianto's bowed head.

Jack said hello back before introducing the newcomer as Gwen Cooper. Ianto murmured a polite hello, echoing the others but didn't look up.

Jack frowned in Ianto's direction but before he could say anything the teacher came in and called the class to attention. They were going over the syllabus when a folded scrap of paper appeared on the corner of Ianto's open notebook where had been idly doodling.

Blinking in confusion Ianto opened it and read Jack's messy scrawl, _'what's up? You seem upset.' _Glancing at the front of the room where Ms. Hathaway was going over the homework policy Ianto hastily wrote back _'nothing. I'm fine, just tired.' _

Sneaking another look at the teacher Ianto slid the note back to Jack. A few minutes later Ianto felt a warm hand brush his fingers and looked to his right, meeting Jack's eyes for the first time since class started.

They kept staring at each other until Gwen attracted Jack's attention, asking a question about lunch period and Jack pulled his hand away to answer her.

Opening the note Ianto read, _'you sure? Why didn't you sleep good?'_

Ianto stared at the paper wondering what to write. He didn't particularly want Jack to know that he'd been up the half the night with nightmares after getting tossed out by his tad. Biting his lip Ianto scribbled, _'doesn't matter' _and passed the note back to the older boy.

Jack pursed his lips in annoyance as he read the note. Ianto was so evasive sometimes, it drove him crazy. Aware of Gwen trying to read over his shoulder, Jack quickly tore off the corner of his paper and wrote a note back. Ianto unfolded the new scrap and his eyebrows raised in surprise, _'want to hang out after school?'_

Scribbling furiously Ianto glanced at Jack from the corner of his eye and passed the note to Tosh. Tosh unfolded the note and read it. Under Jack's question Ianto had drawn an arrow and _'from Jack'_ before continuing below; _'what should I say?' _Tosh rolled her eyes and wrote her reply, nudging Ianto with her foot as she placed it back on her friend's desk.

'_Say yes you idiot. It's not like you haven't been wanting to spend time with him forever.'_

Ianto carefully folded the corner from a page in the back of his notebook until he could rip out an even rectangle before replying, _'sure. Meet you by my locker?' _

The bell rang and Jack smiled at Ianto, whispering "it's a date" in his ear before disappearing into the hall with a cheeky wink, Gwen tailing behind him. Ianto sat there for a moment until Tosh nudged his chair and he quickly packed his things. They left the classroom together Tosh whispering excitedly in his ear, "what did Jack say?"

Ianto groaned and leant his forehead against the shelf in front of him. He was such an idiot sometimes. Vaguely aware the shelf digging a red line across his forehead, Ianto closed his eyes and thought back to lunch. He had been sitting at a table with Tosh and Owen and some girl Owen dragged along, much to Toshiko's disappointment, eating the sandwich Mrs. Sato had made for him and absently listening to Tosh tell him about a new RPG.

Ianto stole a sip of Tosh's soda and scanned the crowd of students until he laid eyes on a familiar blue coat. Jack and that new girl, Gwen, were standing a ways off by the benches. The other boy's back was turned but Ianto could see Gwen's face as she listened to Jack telling one his unbelievable stories.

His expression turned to a frown when she threw her head back in a hearty laugh. _Did she just __**snort**__? _He wondered sourly. He was startled out of his jealous thoughts when Tosh stole her soda back with a playful glare on her face. Ianto must have still been frowning because Tosh's expression turned serious as she looked past her best friend's shoulder.

"Oh Ianto, you know Jack flirts like that with everybody, it doesn't mean anything."

Leaning closer she whispered in his ear,

"Besides, he asked you to hang out with him later, not Gwen".

Ianto managed a small smile but his stomach was still churning. Something about that Gwen girl unsettled him. Tosh smiled encouragingly at him but whatever she was going to say next was lost when Owen opened his big mouth.

"I don't know why you bother mooning over Jack Ianto; he doesn't need a boy toy by the looks of things"

He said with a significant glance toward the boy in question, he was walking toward their table with Gwen hanging off his arm.

"Besides,"

He continued unmercifully,

"You'd never have a chance with him".

Ianto was barely aware of Tosh telling Owen to sod off when he looked up and met Jack's eyes. The older boy grinned at him, and with his face burning, Ianto grabbed his bag off the table and fled across the grass.

'_And that brings us to now.'_

Ianto thought dully.

He was just motivating himself to pick his head up and put more books away when he heard heavy foot falls approaching him steadily.

'_Don't be Jack, don't be Jack, don't be Jack…_ '

He thought desperately, eyes screwed tightly shut.

"Ianto?"

a hesitant voice inquired.

'_Fuck its Jack._'

Ianto realized with a tired sigh and slowly picked his head up from the shelf, wincing slightly as the corner of the wood stuck to his skin briefly, Ianto turned to face his friend.

"Hi Jack. Do you need a book?"

Jack looked at him oddly for a moment and Ianto quickly brought a hand to his forehead, furiously trying to rub out the hideous red mark he could feel. Jack smiled at him and chuckled.

"What?"

Ianto snapped irritably.

"You're adorable."

Ianto let his hand drop to his side as his eyebrows shot up in surprise.

"That's harassment, read the student handbook."

He replied lightly.

Jack just chuckled again and took a step forward.

"Ianto Jones, what am I going to do with you?"

He asked teasingly and was surprised by Ianto's reply.

"What do you want to do with me?"

Ianto asked softly, one eyebrow quirked mischievously.

This time Jack's eyebrows were raised before he broke into his famous grin, taking another step toward the shorter boy until their shoulders were brushing. A teasing glint in his eye Jack leaned forward to whisper in Ianto's ear,

"Lots of things Mr. Jones."

He pulled back, still grinning and looked directly into Ianto's blue eyes.

They both looked at the other for a moment before dissolving into laughter.

"I'm sorry,"

Jack gasped out, "that was just too funny."

Ianto shook his head as he was still laughing too hard to respond. His shoulders were protesting to the full body laughs rolling over him but he couldn't stop.

It was pretty funny. Jack stopped laughing and looked at Ianto's face again. Sensing his scrutiny Ianto managed to stop laughing long enough to ask,

"What?"

Jack smiled again, not his shit eating grin, but a small, happy smile.

"You still wanna hang out later right? I thought we could go to the park, play a little footie."

Ianto's face broke into a wide smile and nodded.

"Sure, sounds good. We haven't done that in a long time."

Jack took a small step toward Ianto again, a question on his lips but before he could ask a loud whisper from Gwen bloody Cooper carried through the shelves;

"Jack, _psst,_ Jack. Where did you go?"

Ianto groaned inwardly and Jack turned back on his grin and stepped out from behind the shelves. "Right here Gwen".

**R&R**


	3. Nerves

**AN: Warning, there's an fbomb in this chapter…maybe more than one teehee**

**Nerves:**

Ianto sighed to himself, from where he was stood in front of the coffee maker in the small, messy kitchen, he could hear his tad ranting and raving at the telly from the other room. His father moved into the kitchen to angrily jerk open the fridge, pulling out a beer and slamming it back shut. Ianto's distaste must have shown on his face because he only just managed not to burn himself with the scalding liquid he was pouring when his father cuffed him on the side of the head.

Ianto didn't get any of the boiling hot coffee on his hands, but he'd managed to spill a fair bit on the cuff of his school shirt.

"Fuck!"

He cursed quietly and hurried upstairs to change. No way was he going to school _today_ with stained cuffs!

It was chamber auditions and the teacher took tidiness and promptness into account. He'd have to hurry if didn't want to be late for registration.

Up in his room Ianto searched frantically for a clean shirt, yanking the stained one over his head and tossing it at the hamper. The damn hanger was caught on something! Opening the closet door all the way to try and find what it was caught on, Ianto couldn't stop a smile when he saw the laces of his muddy old trainers had got wrapped around the hanger after he'd chucked them in last night.

_Jack collapsed on the wet grass next to Ianto, slightly out of breath from their lengthy game of one on one. A lazy smile on his handsome face he turned to look at the boy next to him. Face flushed from running, dark hair damp and sticking to his forehead with sweat, Jack thought Ianto looked breathtaking- not that he'd ever admit it. That was just _un_cool. _

_Shaking himself from his thoughts with a grin he reached over to lightly thump the younger boys shoulder, _

"_Good game, yeah?"_

_Ianto grinned back, blue eyes twinkling and responded breathily;_

"_Good game". _

_The pair lay in the cool grass in companionable silence for a few minutes before Ianto broke the quiet, looking at his watch and swearing softly. _

"_It's getting late. I've got to get home before- I've got to get home." _

_He finished awkwardly, looking at some distant point in the grey sky. Jack threw him a concerned glance. _

"_Yeah, I'd better get back too. I promised the Doctor I'd look in on his experiments tonight." _

_Jack finally said, thinking idly of his absent uncle and guardian. _

_The boys heaved themselves off the grass and Jack noted that Ianto pushed himself up rather stiffly, as if his back ached. _

"_Hey Ianto" he began warily, "how are things, you know, with your dad? Everything alright at home?"_

_Ianto shot him a quick glance, his eyes flashing with distrust, but replied neutrally. _

"_It's fine Jack. Why do you ask?" _

_Jack shot a look back that clearly said 'yeah right', and continued gazing at his friend intensely. _

_Ianto fidgeted under Jack's scrutiny and looked away. Biting back a sigh Jack put a tentative hand on his shoulder, noting grimly the other boy's minute flinch at the gesture. _

"_Ianto, you know you can talk to me, right?"_

_Ianto nodded and flicked a brief look in Jack's direction. He took a deep breath to steady himself and forced his eyes to linger on his friend's anxious face._

"_I know Jack, it's just- I just, don't… I don't really like to talk about it. Ever since my mam died, I don't know, he's been different that's all." _

_Jack studied Ianto's face, searching for any hint of dishonesty. Satisfied with what he saw, Jack smiled softly. _

"_I know you really don't have to explain. But if you ever want to talk, I'm here."_

_Ianto smiled shyly in return. _

"_I will. Thanks Jack, and thanks for today, I know you probably had other things to do, but thanks. It was fun." _

"_No problem Ianto, I had fun too. And I really didn't have any other plans."  
>When Ianto only shrugged in response Jack frowned. <em>

"_Is it really so hard to believe that I want to spend time with you outside of school Yan?"_

_Ianto shrugged again and looked away. Before he could stop himself Jack was reaching out to grasp the smaller boy's shoulder, squeezing gently but firmly and forcing him to meet his gaze. _

"_I really wanted to see you today Ianto, I've missed spending time with you. I- hell- Ilikeyouok?" _

_He blurted the last bit out in an embarrassed rush and dropped his hand awkwardly from Ianto's shoulder. Ianto blinked at him and let his mouth drop open before snapping it closed with an audible clack. _

"_I'm sorry, what was that?" _

Ianto barely managed to get out the door in time to run right into Tosh in a mesh of limbs, school blazers and black violin cases, well violin and viola.

"Sorry Tosh! Oh, thanks for keeping my viola last night."

"No problem Ianto, would you take it already? I need to readjust my backpack and I only have two hands."

Ianto chuckled and quickly took both instruments from her hands. He waited until she resettled her backpack and handed the smaller of the two back.

"Ta Ianto! So, are you ready for today?"

He managed a half grimace, half smile and shook his head somewhat miserably.

"Eh, no. Not really. I'm still a bit stiff and I'm nervous as fuck!"

Tosh scoffed gently at him,

"Don't be nervous Ianto, you made chamber last year and the audition is just a formality really. You're a cinch."

Uncomfortable with the compliment Ianto shrugged and looked away. Tosh sighed and bumped his shoulder gently and linked their arms together.

"Honestly Yan, you'll do fine. You know the piece backwards and forwards. Anyway, tell me about last night. Did you have a good time with Jack?"

Although he was still nervous and not totally convinced by his friends confidence in him, Ianto couldn't hold back a broad smile as he nodded slowly.

"It was great. We walked to the park and played footie, it was like old times, back before… Anyway, it was perfect; he kissed me."

The gangly boy tripped over his last step when Tosh suddenly stopped in her tracks, dragging him to a halt as well like an anchor stopping a boat in a shallow stream.

"What? When exactly were you planning on sharing this information with me Ianto? Jack-Bloody- You've had a crush on forever-Harkness kissed you? On the mouth? Was there tongue?"

Ianto rolled his eyes dramatically thinking; _girls._

"Oi, if a bloke could get a word in I'd tell ya…"

…_Jack sighed and said again, more slowly, _

"_I said I like you, ok?" _

_Ianto continued to stare up at him, mouth working but no sound coming out. Finally regaining his composure he cleared his throat softly, a delicate blush painting his cheeks and said with a tentative smile, _

"_I- I like you too. I mean more than a friend and all that."_

_Jack's face lit up in a huge smile and he pulled Ianto into a clumsy hug. Ianto stiffened at first from the unexpected contact but allowed himself to relax into the embrace, eyes sliding closed and a smile on his face. They stayed like for several moments before Ianto pulled back slightly. Looking up into Jack's bright blue eyes, Ianto spoke softly, afraid of breaking the moment._

"_As much as I'd like to stay here with you Jack, I really need to get home." _

_Jack smiled and brought his hand up to stroke softly over Ianto's still damp, slightly curly hair. Slowly he leaned down, giving Ianto the opportunity to move away, and placed a gentle, tentative kiss on Ianto's dry lips._

_It lasted only a brief moment, but it was perfect. _

_Both boys let their eyes slide shut and their minds wander as the chaste kiss enveloped them. _

_Breaking the kiss, it was Jack's turn to clear his throat and blush. _

"_I'll uh, I'll walk you home?"_

If asked later, Ianto would vigorously deny that as he finished recounting the night before for his friend, both he and Tosh sighed dreamily at the exact same moment. Never happened. Nope.

Tosh smiled and pulled her friend into a hug.

"Ianto I'm so happy for you! That's amazing, are you, you know- together now?"

A slight frown crept across his face as he considered the question.

"I don't know actually, we didn't really discuss it."

Tosh shrugged and hugged him again.

"It doesn't matter, that's amazing news! I mean, you've only had a crush on him since primary school."

Ianto flushed red and hissed,

"Shut up Tosh, I have not!"

Tosh raised an eyebrow incredulously and Ianto blushed harder before shrugging half halfheartedly.

"Well, maybe I have but you don't have to say it. Now come on, we have to go; Jack said he'd meet me at the corner and we could walk to school together."

The pair set off toward school and Ianto answered amicably as Tosh continued to grill him about the night before. As they rounded the corner they saw Jack speaking with that new girl, Gwen, who kept stepping into Jack's personal space and trailing the fingers of her unoccupied hand over the sleeve of his coat.

The other was holding a cello case. Ianto's heart sunk; she would be in music with them, his favorite class of the day- ruined. Grimacing a polite smile Ianto prepared to walk by the two of them when Jack noticed him and bounded over, violin case swinging carelessly from where it was slung across his back as he grinned like a Cheshire cat.

"Good morning Ianto".

The older boy practically purred and Ianto momentarily forgot he was upset as he looked into Jack's twinkling blue eyes.

"Morning Jack."

He mumbled back, suddenly feeling very shy he looked helplessly at Tosh. His friend, seeing his dilemma took pity on him and broke the silence.

"Morning Jack, have fun at the park yesterday?"

She asked, winking traitorously at Ianto.

'_I'm going to kill her, slowly, painfully.'_ Ianto thought darkly as he blushed crimson. Jack smiled and winked in return.

"Oh, you know me Tosh, I never kiss and tell."

"Since when?"

Was Owens sarcastic reply as he rounded the corner, rolling his eyes. Jack ignored the smaller boy and instead grabbed Ianto's hand, pulling him down the sidewalk toward the school. Owen blinked and turned to Tosh.

"Did I miss something?"

Tosh rolled her eyes and turned to follow Jack and Ianto, calling over her shoulder.

"If you can't figure it out Owen, I'm not going to tell you."

Owen shrugged and turned to Gwen who appeared to have been left behind.

"Well, come on then, when we get to school I'll show you where the music room is so you don't have to carry that thing round all day."

**R&R plz. Any thoughts on the rewrite?**


	4. Auditions

**AN: All mistakes are mine, Torchwood is not etc.  
>Many thanks to everyone who reviewed, you've motivated me to finish this chapter =)<br>Also, googledocs did something funny with my format…apologies if it looks odd =/**

**Auditions: **

Jack smiled as he casually strode out of the music room and into the hallway. His audition had been a breeze; he'd gone in with his usual confidence and played his audition piece perfectly, if he said so himself. The results wouldn't be posted until tomorrow of course, but he was confident he'd made Chamber again this year. Especially since several Chamber students graduated last year.

Whistling to himself joyfully he spotted Ianto hiding in a corner by the stairs, white as a ghost and clutching his viola nervously. Grinning he made his way to the corner and effectively boxed the younger boy in.

"You've got this Ianto."

He said confidently with an encouraging smile. Leaning in he planted a soft kiss on the now blushing boy's cheek and said more softly;

"Good luck".

Pulling away with a mischievous glint in his eye he glanced at the music room door as Tosh came out smiling anxiously.

"Tosh is done, aren't you after her?"

With that Jack resumed whistling and sauntered off down the hall, snagging Toshiko by the elbow as he passed. As they rounded the corner Miss Noble, the music teacher, stuck her head into the hall.

"C'mon then Mr. Jones! 'Aven't got all day, other auditions to do."

Still blushing from the kiss Ianto hurried into the music room.

Taking a deep breath Ianto put his music on the stand and handed Miss Noble her copy with only slightly shaking hands. Another breath and he wiped his sweaty palms on his trousers, adjusted his shoulder rest and brought the viola up to lay under his chin. One more wipe of his right palm against his trouser leg and after checking the tautness of his bow he was ready to begin.

As he played the first note his vision briefly white-ed out, coming abruptly back into focus only for his vision to tunnel out until all he could see were the pages of his music. The notes were outstandingly black against the stark white paper as they seemed to leap from the pages, but Ianto wasn't really looking at them. He wasn't really _looking_ at anything, or really even seeing. Tosh was right, he did know the piece backwards and forwards and as the adrenaline increased his muscle memory took over.

A quick peek at Miss Noble showed she was pleased and Ianto confidence hit a crescendo. He added a trill to the higher eighth notes and finished the piece with a long, smooth vibrato. Miss Nobel smiled at him and made a few notes on her clipboard, then handed back his sheet music with a wink. Ianto couldn't hold back the smile that threatened to overtake his entire face.

Lisa jumped when the door to the music room swung open to reveal a grinning and excited Ianto. She smiled at her friend and gave him a quick hug.

"I'm guessing it went well from the smug look on your face."

She teased good naturedly.

Still smiling Ianto nodded enthusiastically.

"Yeah I think I did alright. Hey are you next? You better get in there. I promise to tell you about it later, yeah?"

With a teasing smile Lisa nudged him gently.

"You'd better have more to tell me than that! I heard from a little bird that you and Jack had a _fantastic _time yesterday. Honestly I'm a little hurt you didn't tell me yourself."

She said it with a wink but Ianto could detect a real note of hurt. Still flustered from the adrenaline high of performing, Ianto stumbled over his words as he rushed to apologize.

"Ah-ah, Lisa, I- I would've told you if I'd had a chance and I'm sorry you had to find out like that. I know we were sort of, you know, before, but I _really_ like Jack."

Rolling her eyes Lisa raised her bow to shush him.

"Honestly Ianto I was only teasing. I think you and Jack are great together. And if you were talking about _that kiss_, that was in second year! I don't even really count it to be honest. It's fine. Now I've got to go, Miss Noble hates to be kept waiting. See you later."

Delivering a chaste kiss to his cheek Lisa disappeared into the music room, head held high and shoulders straight. Ianto stood in the hall for several moments, confusion and joy warring for top position in his consciousness. Joy won out as he walked quickly down the corridor to the stairs.

Tosh smiled from her seat on one of the abandoned lunch tables when she caught sight of Ianto exiting the school.

"Well done Ianto!"

She called across the quad. Ianto's step faltered briefly mid stride but smiled and continued to the table where his friend was waiting.

"How do you know I did well Tosh?"

Still grinning madly for her friend Tosh laughed warmly,

"I can see it on your face Yan."

Ianto smiled shyly and looked briefly at his scuffed trainers.

"I did do really well, Miss Noble winked at me."

Jack chuckled in his ear and Ianto jumped at the other boy's suddenly close proximity. He hadn't been in the quad when Ianto had first come out. Whirling around, Ianto saw Jack and Owen standing in front of him.

"Sneak much? You scared the shit out of me Jack!"

Ianto exclaimed brightly, nothing could bring down his good mood now. _Nothing except... No, don't think of that._

Jack smiled softly and leaned in to kiss Ianto's cheek.

"I told you you'd do fine."

Ignoring the sound of Owen dramatically gagging, Ianto's face broke into a wide grin that quickly turned to a frown when Jack ruffled his hair and said,

"What was this about Miss Noble flirting with you?"

Gwen shuffled from foot to foot restlessly as she waited in the quiet corridor. She nervously poked her tongue through the gap in her teeth- a trait she'd picked up from her father- and twirled her bow in her fingers.

She'd hated moving. Leaving all her friends behind still hurt but Cardiff wasn't so bad. Most of the kids were friendly and welcoming and having that Jack Harkness escort her to her classes wasn't bad at all. Gwen had been a bit dubious when the woman at Admissions had told her a student had been assigned to show her around school- it was usually some nerd, probably Asian and head of the AV club- but the moment Jack came round the corner, all grins and that brilliant coat, Gwen couldn't have been happier.

Their schedules were almost identical, probably why he'd been assigned to her, but it gave Gwen the opportunity to spend more time with the gorgeous boy and you wouldn't hear her complaining.

Footsteps on the stairs made her start and she turned to see a tall, well built boy approach, absently rosining his bow as he walked. He looked up and Gwen recognized him as one of Jack's friends; Ryan, Rowan, something starting with an R...

Rhys looked up from his bow and grinned. It was that hot new girl, Gwen.

"Hiya! I'm Rhys Williams, we met yesterday."

Gwen smiled in relief when he said his name.

"Yeah, you're one of Jack's friends, right?"

Rhys smiled and nodded.

"Yep. Hey, you play cello right?"

At Gwen's nod he continued,

"You've got a very good chance of making Chamber this term, our first chair cello, Suzie, well her dad's been ill, they moved to London so he could be closer to his hospital. What I mean to say is, there's an open chair."

Visibly brightening at the news, Gwen grinned at him winningly.

"That's a relief thanks, what's Miss Noble like anyway? I asked Jack but just said she's tough, but fair."

Rhys grinned,

"I'd have to say, she's tough but fair."

Gwen chuckled for a moment before sobering when the music room doors burst open to reveal a grinning, flushed Andy.

"How'd it go then mate?"

Rhys called to the other boy.

Andy just smiled and shouldered his backpack before reaching into the open door to grab his cello case off the ground.

"Don't wanna jinx it mate, good luck though. Hey, I'll see you later right?"

Rhys nodded and Andy hurried away, turning to Gwen who was almost at the music room door, he hurriedly spoke,

"Hey um, we have this tradition sort of, and we all go out for pizza after auditions. We'll be meeting by the lunch table after we all finish if you want to come."

Gwen thought about it for a moment and when she realized that Jack would most likely be there she smiled brightly, unselfconscious about the gap in her teeth, and nodded.

"I'd like that, thanks. See you later then."

**TBC**

**Any suggestions as to characters/plot? Please R&R**


	5. The Tradition

**** AN: KUDOS to PCJANTO who left feedback on pretty much every chapter which resulted in this: chapter the fifth, for you enjoyment ;)****

**The Tradition**

Rhys crowed triumphantly when he bested Jack in another arm wrestling match. The girls and Ianto collectively rolled their eyes while Owen slapped Rhys firmly on the back in congratulations. Andy, who was still nursing his own sore wrist from losing a few minutes earlier offered a weak congratulations, and reached for his drink.

"You beat me again Rhys, the last slice is yours."

Jack said graciously, trying not to wince as his knuckles throbbed from where they'd been slammed against the table. He'd never let on but damn, that hurt!

Smiling sneakily, he reached onto Ianto's plate to snatch the olives the other boy had picked off his piece earlier- the ones Jack knew he was still planning on eating. While Jack was busy stuffing the pilfered olives in his mouth Ianto swapped his empty glass for Jack's half full one and took a long, noisy pull on the straw.

Narrowing his eyes Jack growled playfully and reached to take the soda back, only to have it jerked out of reach by Ianto who quickly drained the remaining Coke and handed the empty glass back with a loud belch and cheeky grin.

Tosh, Lisa and Gwen voiced their displeasure at the loud burp but Ianto didn't pay any attention to them, his focus was on Jack.

He was smiling at him in a way that made Ianto wish they were back in the park; alone.

Leaning closer, Jack whispered in the younger boy's ear,

"You're cute when you're being cheeky, I like it."

A delicate blush blossomed across Ianto's cheeks but the moment was broken when Owen slipped a piece of ice down the back of his shirt.

An unmanly yelp worked its way past his lips as he sprang up from his seat, un-tucking his shirt to shake the offending ice loose. As he was twisting around to get rid of the ice, his shirt rode up his side to reveal a large purple-ish bruise just below his ribs.

Gwen gasped loudly and Ianto froze, jerking his shirt back down and retreating quickly to the bathroom. He reemerged before Jack could go after him, holding the piece of ice which he promptly dumped in Owen's glass.

Not wanting to admit defeat, Owen shrugged and took a long drink anyway. Waiting until he'd swallowed Ianto smiled sweetly,

"By the way Owen, the ice sort of slipped down my pants when I was trying to shake it out, how did my arse taste in your drink?"

Retching loudly Owen stole Rhy's drink and rinsed his mouth, prompting spitting the liquid out onto Ianto's empty plate.

Wanting to escape before the awkward tension could return Ianto picked up his bag from the floor and rescued his viola from the table behind them.

"I've got to get home, it's getting late."

Glancing at his phone on the table Jack realized it _was_ getting late, it was already past five. He needed to get back and check in on the Doctor's experiments again. A small frown creased his face when he thought about his uncle. He had been a professor at the local university but after- after he lost his wife, Rose, he'd taken to traveling a lot. Jack was pretty sure that he was New Zealand right now, visiting a museum or something.

Standing quickly Jack grabbed his bag and violin off the next table and crossed to stand with Ianto,

"It's gone five; I'd better get going too."

It was mutually decided that they were all leaving so they affected a mass exodus toward the door of the small restaurant. They all lived in roughly the same neighborhood, so as they walked together they formed a line of uniforms and black instrument cases the blocked the entire sidewalk before they gradually separated.

After finding out that Gwen lived only two blocks down from him, Rhys gallantly offered to carry her cello for her, as the bass players weren't required to bring their instruments from home- thank god- it was the gentlemanly thing to do.

Lisa and Tosh had their heads together and were whispering furiously back and forth, the quiet murmurs broken by the occasional giggle. Beside them, Owen and Andy were playing an obnoxious game of trying to step on the others feet, Owen had the upper hand though as he was using his drumsticks to poke Andy in the side, making him lose his balance.

Ianto had started out at a fast pace but he slowed a little to allow Jack to catch up to him.

Smiling when Ianto waited for him, Jack trailed his hand down the other boys arm and grinned when Ianto shifted his viola to his other hand so he could twine his fingers with Jacks.

"I want to hang out this weekend, just the two of us. I talked to the Doctor earlier and he said it was alright if you wanted to stay the night Friday, he'll be back early Saturday morning I think."

A little thrown by the sudden invitation Ianto took a moment to think about it before carefully replying,

"I'm not sure…"

Seeing the older boys face fall he quickly continued,

"I mean I'd love to, really, but I have a lot of things to do around the house before I can even ask my tad, but if I get it all done, he's been in a pretty good mood lately so…"

Jack nodded enthusiastically before impulsively leaning down to press an open mouth kiss against Ianto's warm, slightly chapped, lips.

Gwen sighed inwardly and tried to smile at Rhys who was chattering away beside her. He was a nice guy, kinda cute to be sure, but he just kept talking about Rugby and it was getting a bit annoying. They came to a crosswalk and she paused to look around, she was still learning the area and most of the street names were unfamiliar.

Looking ahead she saw Tosh and Lisa trading insults with Owen and Andy, it seemed to be some sort of game, and farther ahead she could see Jack. Jack and that one kid, Ian or Ewan or something like that. They'd never really spoken; he was bit odd and quiet, always staring at her whenever she looked at him, glaring really. And that ugly bruise! What the hell was that?

Wait, what- was Jack holding his hand? She'd heard some talk that Jack was bi or something. She'd met one his ex's already, John Hart, 'bloody gorgeous but certifiable' according to the stalls in the girls loo, but it hadn't really sunk in. Even if Jack was bi, why would he be with that Ian kid? Jack was gorgeous and popular, his small companion was just a little kid, bony and pale and generally ignored by people outside their immediate group of friends.

"Hey Rhys, that kid, Jack's friend, the real quiet creepy one-"

Rhys gave her an odd look, how does she from Rugby to Ianto? He wondered briefly,

"You mean Ianto? What about 'im?"

Gwen shrugged, trying to look nonchalant,

"Well he never really says much, I mean what's his deal? And that hideous bruise!"

"He's just a bit shy, that's all. Once he warms up to you you'll realize he's pretty cool, wicked sense of humor."

Noting that he avoided saying anything about the bruise Gwen dropped it for the time being, she had more important things to worry about right now.

"I mean, he's always with Jack though, isn't he? What's with that? Are they related or something?"

Rhys shrugged,

"Nah, they've been mates since primary school, Ianto skipped ahead a year back then and Jack sort of looks after him. Ianto's got a bit of crush on him really; I think it's kind of sweet. See-"

Gesturing toward the boy in question with his free hand he prompted Gwen to turn just in time to see them kissing.

"- Don't tell 'em I said this, but I think they're cute together."

He finished, a delicate blush darkening across his lightly freckled nose, it was a bit awkward to be talking about his mates like _that_, especially to a cute girl but it was true, half the school agreed they made an adorable couple.

Gwen frowned slightly as she watched the boys end the kiss and continue walking home. So Ianto had a crush on Jack did he? Rhys didn't say Jack liked him back, not really. Maybe she still stood a chance. Brightening exponentially at the thought Gwen smiled at Rhys and tuned him out as she formed a plan in her head.

When they came to the corner of Ianto, Tosh and Lisa's block Jack tugged lightly on the smaller boys hand and pulled him round the side of a large tree. Gently pressing him back into the bark of the trunk Jack caged Ianto's head with his strong hands resting on the tree to either side and smiled before descending on his mouth like a starving man.

Ianto returned the kiss enthusiastically, lightly dropping his viola to rest on the grass so he could twine his fingers in Jack's spikey brown hair. Tentatively reaching out with his tongue, Ianto's gasp was swallowed greedily by Jack as he stroked his tongue possessively into Ianto's open mouth.

Lisa's loud whistle from the corner brought him back orbit and Ianto gently ended the kiss with several lingering nips and presses of his lips against Jack's moist ones. Noses still touching, they shared the same panting breaths as they regarded each other carefully, gauging the other's reaction. Grinning happily Ianto pressed a quick kiss to Jack's cheek and ducked under his arms, grabbing his viola and jogging away, calling over his shoulder,

"See you tomorrow!"

Unable to wipe the smile from his face, Ianto graciously allowed Tosh and Lisa to tease him as they walked slowly down the sidewalk. He wasn't in an extreme hurry to get home by any means and when he spotted his tad's car parked in the drive he slowed even more.

Noticing his reluctance the girls shared a look over his head and simultaneously linked their arms to one of his, causing to jump slightly at the unexpected contact.

"C'mon Yan, me mum's promised us tea if we practice together first"

Lisa said brightly.

Ianto hesitated, he really shouldn't, his tad had warned him yesterday not to be late again, but he really didn't want to face the man. If he was home this early he'd been laid off again and was probably more than halfway to pissed.

With a tight smile he made his decision and allowed his friends to lead him away from his troubles.

**TBC**

**AN: I'm going to be evil and withhold the next chapter (about 1/4 of the way done) until I got double my current number of reviews (8). MUAH HA HAW lol. See you after 16 reviews people! **

**(I'm only doing this because the rewrite has only gotten about an eighth of the reviews the original received and I'm curious about how you like the changes. Or maybe you didn't like the changes and liked the original better?)  
><strong>


	6. Home Early, Home Late

**AN: OhSNAP! Wow, that was a good way to get reviews! I might have to try it again sometime ;) jk, damn, you guys have effectively kicked my butt into gear (hadn't really planned to finish this chapter until tomorrow) Anywho, thanks! Reviews are my candy XD**

**Home Early, Home Late:**

Jack used his key to open the front door and sighed into the dark entryway. Kicking the door shut he turned the lock and slid his violin off his shoulder before dropping his backpack on the floor. There was nobody to tell him not to, so he may as well. He didn't bother to turn on any lights until he got to the kitchen.

Quickly depositing his violin on the counter Jack opened the fridge and pulled out a can of soda. The pop and hiss of it opening was obscenely loud and echoed in the quiet expanse of the empty house. Annoyed with the quiet Jack took his drink and his violin through to the living room and flipped on the telly.

Picking a channel at random he turned down the sound and unzipped his violin case. Letting his mind wander, Jack absently plucked at the strings for a few minutes before reaching for his bow.

Tightening the bowstrings to his preference he ran it along the resin a few times until he was satisfied and dug in the larger inside compartment for his shoulder rest. He took his time warming up, mind scattered amongst his fragmented thoughts.

_I wonder what music we'll be playing this term… _

…_How long will uncle John stay this time, and where's he off to next?_

_Damn, stupid fifth position… if my stupid fingers would stop growing…_

…_Maybe when Martha visits I can get her to take a look at Ianto… Ianto is-_

_Ianto is: complicated, confusing, contemplative, cute… _

…_Ianto was hurt _again, _if he would just talk to me! Tell me the truth for once I could-_

_What _could_ I do?_

A painfully flat f sharp accompanied that dismal thought and Jack paused, bow hovering soundlessly above the still string. He started when a noise to the left caught his attention. Whirling around he saw his uncle standing awkwardly in the doorway from the kitchen.

"You're home early."

Jack finally said with a note of curiosity behind the dullness of his placid tone.

Dr. John Smith, preferring to be called simply 'Doctor', shrugged casually under his nephew's intense gaze.

"I know. There's actually been a change of plans. Martha called me; she's in London for a conference and invited me to join her. I uh, I leave tomorrow night."

Jack's eyes darkened with confusion and barely hidden hurt when his uncle refused to even look at him.

"But you said you'd be here, I've made plans with Ianto, and he's staying over Friday night."

The Doctor sighed; if he were honest with himself he'd been hoping for a different reaction to the news of his leaving again. Sometimes he wondered if the boy even noticed when he was gone, not that he had anyone to blame but himself he supposed. He certainly hadn't been there for him after- well, he'd been gone a lot in recent years.

"I know, and it wouldn't be fair to make you change your plans when I promised. You're sixteen, and I trust you Jack, your friend can still come over as long as you follow the rules and pick up after yourself. Ianto, Ianto, he's not the short one with the smart mouth is he? No wait, Ianto is a Welsh name; he's the quiet one right?"

Jack nodded, bitterly thinking that other kids' parents would know who their kid's friends were after eight years. But the Doctor wasn't his parent and that was the problem wasn't it? His only relation to the Doctor was that his dead mother had been the Doctor's dead wife's sister.

That was why he was gone so much Jack supposed, it was obvious from the fact that his guardian couldn't even look at him. It wasn't Jack's fault he looked so much like- like Grey. He couldn't help who he looked like.

Furiously blinking away tears of anger and frustration Jack realized his uncle was talking to him.

"-fine really. He's a good kid from what I can remember, and like I said, I trust you. Oh, and no girls overnight! Except maybe Toshiko, intelligent girl, quite lovely really..."

Tuning his guardian back out Jack nodded and picked up his bag from the floor as he went to his room.

Watching him walk away, the Doctor sighed and retreated to his study.

* * *

><p>Ianto nervously chewed his lip and he stood on the front step of his house. With a small sigh he turned the knob and opened the door quietly, trying to avoid the small squeak of the old hinges. He didn't get two steps inside before a gruff voice froze him in his tracks.<p>

"Thought I told you to be home on time."

Ieuan's voice was deceptively soft and instantly put his son's shoulders on edge.

"I- I was practicing at Lisa's, it was for school-"

A large hand clamping down on his shoulder cut him off abruptly. Looming in Ianto's peripheral vision, a worn face drew closer, breath stinking of whisky, coming in short, angry pants against his neck.

Ianto grunted when his arm was wrenched behind his back and he found himself shoved against the door with enough force to rattle the glass of the window. A second shove and Ianto yelped when the handle of the door pressed against his bruise.

Annoyed with the noise, Ieuan shoved him roughly away, lashing out to kick the boy where he fell on the floor. His foot connected with Ianto's thigh and his son scrambled away, out of reach, before he could draw his leg back for a second strike.

"Better run boy! Don't let me see you sitting and reading or playing that god awful fiddle before this house is cleaned! I want that kitchen cleaned, laundry done and living room picked up tonight! Lazy good for nothing… I work all day to provide for your ungrateful arse and you can't even keep the damn house clean!"

Closing his eyes and the sink filled with hot water, Ianto tried to ignore his father, hoping the man would run out of steam. As it sometimes did, when Ianto was convinced the universe in its entirety was conspiring against him, the opposite happened and Ieuan worked himself into a rage.

Stomping into the kitchen to get a beer from the otherwise empty fridge, Ieuan took the time to hurl several biting insults at his son, lashing out with his foot twice when he didn't feel the words alone were having the desired effect.

"Stupid… Useless... Wish you'd died 'stead of your mam… Shoulda taken you with her, ungrateful bitch…"

* * *

><p>Glancing up from the invention he'd been fiddling with on his desk the Doctor realized it was nearly one in the morning.<p>

_Time to turn in then. Past time really, busy day tomorrow and all that. _

Placing the small device back on the desk John flipped off the light and closed the door before starting down the darkened hall to his seldom used bedroom. It hadn't always been, seldom used that is. He used to spend a good amount of time there with Rose.

Even when the boys had first moved in with them, especially then, they'd spent whole days piled onto the large mattress watching awful children's movies and feeding them junk food, trying to distract them. Huffing a bitter laugh in the darkness, John ruefully remembered arguing with Rose, how where they supposed to distract two kids from the fact that their parents were dead?

As he passed Jack's closed door, the Doctor couldn't help but pause outside it, listening for any sign that the teenage boy was still awake. When he heard none, he carefully opened the door and peered into the room, lit only by the faint glow of the TV showing the start screen for a racing game of some sort.

Creeping forward slowly the Doctor reached to switch off the telly and froze when Jack moved in his sleep. The way he had shifted his face was now visible and John's breath caught in his throat. He looked so much like Rose sometimes, when he was concentrating on something, or laughing, and when his face was relaxed in sleep, that it hurt to even look at him.

He was a constant reminder to John, a piece of his beloved wife, living and vibrant and vulnerable, right in front of him. A living memorial. And call him a coward, call him cold hearted and cruel, but John couldn't face that reminder every day. Reaching out as if to brush the messy hair from his sleeping nephew's forehead the Doctor aborted the motion at the last second and instead reached to switch off the telly.

**TBC**

**AN2: This chapter was a little shorter, but I decided at the last moment to leave some things out in an effort to build the suspense… (:  
>Thanks again for all the wonderful, motivating reviews! In response to specific, non plot-spoiling questions:<br>** **Skriblerier, you are correct, the original was never finished. It felt flat and very 2 dimensional to me; hopefully this version is a little more realistic and less choppy.  
><strong> **Habitualfool****, Lisa, Tosh and Jack know for certain, and the others suspect, but Ianto has never outright said that he is being abused, or even verified that his father is the one doing it.  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: This chapter is for kestrien (= as my mom always says, 'the squeaky wheel gets the grease' lol  
>Mostly fluff in this chapter, no beta so all mistakes are mine. Please R&amp;R<br>Oh yeah, no snappy title for this chapter =/ My brain dieded. Any suggestions?**

**Chapter Seven:**

Despite there still being a good 20 minutes before registration the halls were crowded with students eagerly waiting to see the postings for sports, advanced music, art and drama classes. The group outside the music room was no less impatient, elbows and binders were jammed into sides and backpacks were not so subtly pushed aside as the students shoved to be first in line.

With a triumphant crow John Hart, who had manhandled himself to a position in front of the line, strutted down the hall, all smiles and maniacal laughter.

"I guess he got in then."

Tosh said needlessly and rocked nervously back on the heels of her shiny black dress shoes. By some unspoken agreement Ianto, who was easily the smallest and boasted an eidetic memory, would sneak his way through the line and quickly memorize the list before scurrying back to relay the news to his friends.

Flushed but smiling he emerged from the throng of students and gratefully allowed himself to be pulled into a comforting hug by Jack. Being squashed by so many eager, shouting people was not his idea of a good time.

Pulling back with a shy smile at the older boy Ianto grinned and began rattling off names.

"Jack, Toshiko, Lisa, Owen, Andy, Rhys, me, Tommy, Mary…Gwen…"

Whoever's name came next was drowned out by the jubilant cries of the aforementioned students. Hugs and claps on the back were liberally traded and they slowly made their way toward their first class of the day.

As they entered registration Jack pressed a folded piece of paper into Ianto's hand with a wink as he hurried to his seat.

Pulling out his notebook and pencil Ianto made a point of looking busy before carefully unfolding the scrap of paper he'd clutched firmly in his damp palm.

'_hey Yan, any news about Friday?'_

Glancing furtively around Ianto scribbled back on the same piece of paper,

'_nope. Haven't had a chance to ask yet, my tad wasn't home…'_

Passing it carefully behind him, Ianto had barely resettled himself in his seat when the now wadded up bit of paper landed on his desk. Glaring at the offending piece of ruined paper, he carefully smoothed it out against his desk, hiding the action behind his pencil case.

'_oh… well, let me know when you know. I miss spending time with just you. You look really cute 2day btw. Maybe during lunch we could sneak off for a little bit?'_

Ianto blushed while he read the note and inconspicuously showed the last bit to Tosh who giggled quietly into her hand. Quickly writing on the corner of her syllabus Tosh turned her notebook so Ianto could read it;

'_Soo Jack! You should go!'_

Ripping off a neat rectangle from a page in the back of his notebook Ianto wrote Jack back and carefully folded the note into a neat square.

'_Sounds fun. I missed you too .I missed spending time with you too.'_

Jack smirked at the hastily scratched out words. Before he could write back, Gwen leaned forward, trying to read over his shoulder and whispered in his ear.

"What ya doin' Jack?"

Unfortunately the teacher chose that moment to look over and called Jack on talking during class.

"Mr. Harkness, I'm sure whatever you and Miss. Cooper are discussing can wait until after class?"

Suitably chastised and embarrassed at nearly being caught passing notes, Jack murmured a quiet,

"Yes Ma'am."

He spent the rest of registration doodling disinterestedly in his notebook between sneaking furtive glances at Ianto.

The younger boy looked tired. He had circles under his eyes and he was sitting stiffly in the desk chair. Each time he shifted to reach across his desk Jack imagined he could see a minute grimace cross his pale face.

* * *

><p>Gwen pouted all through registration. Jack refused to talk to her after getting told off by the teacher. It wasn't <em>her<em> fault, well maybe it was a little but Jack wanted to talk to her anyway. Besides, the first day of Chamber was tomorrow and she was a little bit nervous, she'd been first chair at her old school but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Hopefully she and Jack would get a moment to talk so he could reassure her that it would be ok.

He was supposed to be helping her settle in after all. They probably would have spent more time together if it weren't for that weird, quiet kid, Ianto Jones. He was always trailing along behind Jack and commandeering the older boy's attention. According to locker room gossip Ianto has had a crush on Jack for ages. It's a bit pathetic if you ask her, hanging on the older boy when he's so clearly not interested.

As far as Gwen could tell Jack was single at the moment, if his constant flirting with every pretty girl and some cute boys in a 50 yard radius was anything to go by. It didn't really bother her that Jack liked boys too, well it was a bit weird but she could deal with it. Jack must be one of those romantic sorts who see love before gender, and Gwen was certain he was falling in love with her. It was obvious in the way he looked at her and smiled and the way he flirted with her more than the other girls (and occasional boys).

Not that Jack was the only good looking boy in school. Owen was kind of cute in a lanky, he'll grow into his looks sort of way, and that bass player Rhys was quiet handsome. John Hart, arrogant bastard that he was, was right good looking too, and that cellist Andy was pretty cute. But Jack, Jack Harkness, cornered the market on hot. Something about the way he moved; graceful and powerful, even with that ridiculous too large coat trailing about his ankles. He was quite dashing and rather heroic Gwen fancied.

She'd just have to steal him at lunch so they could talk, Ianto could survive with the other nerds for a while without Jack. That Asian girl and he seem pretty close, but Gwen had noticed the longing looks the smaller girl would occasionally send toward Owen. She definitely had a crush on him, too bad for her Owen seemed more interested in Gwen's chest than _her_ apparent brains.

* * *

><p>When it came time for lunch Gwen was disappointed not to find Jack at the table with the others. And when she'd asked the Asian girl- Toshiko- she'd said, had told her that he and Ianto went off somewhere together. Something in the way she said it, like Gwen should have known the answer- it was sooo obvious- rubbed Gwen the wrong way. In retaliation she spent her lunch period flirting with Owen and watching the frown creep up across Toshiko's pale face.<p>

* * *

><p>The librarian rolled her eyes as she walked past Ianto and Jack sitting on the floor in the stacks, heads together over a piece of crumpled paper.<p>

"…And see, this is the portal to the other dimension with all the evil robots but you can't get through the portal without a key. Oh, and this is an evil space monkey!"

Jack exclaimed proudly as he explained his doodles to Ianto. A dramatically loud clearing of the throat startled both boys into looking up before Ianto had a chance to reply.

The school librarian glared at them over her glasses, but there was a twinkle in her eye as she gently scolded them,

"This is a library gentleman, quiet please."

Ianto blushed at the admonishment but Jack just grinned widely until she'd disappeared between the shelves. Still smiling fiendishly Jack leaned into Ianto's space and whispered in his ear;

"I guess we have to be quiet…"

Trailing off meaningfully Jack leaned closer and captured the younger boy's lips with his own. He was mildly surprised when Ianto threaded his fingers into Jack's hair, pulling him closer and deepening the kiss by thrusting his tongue messily into Jack's mouth. Managing to grin around the kiss Jack tugged Ianto until the slighter boy was seated in his lap and hungrily attacked his open mouth.

Ianto shifted slightly above him and they both groaned into the messy kiss, foreheads nearly touching as they struggled to regain their breaths. Jack pulled him down for another kiss but they quickly broke apart at the sound of a hard bound book being slammed rather loudly onto the metal shelf. A meaningful look from the librarian had them scrambling apart, flushed and out of breath, heart's pumping furiously with desire and the adrenaline of being caught.

"Eh hmm gentlemen, I believe the warning bell has rung, time to get to class isn't it?"

Smiling dopily, Jack heaved himself off the ground, extending a hand to Ianto and he pulled the blushing boy to his feet. With a muttered, "thanks" and "see ya!" Jack pulled Ianto out of the stacks and through the empty library, he held his hand all the way to class where he only relinquished it when they sat in their seats and began rummaging for notebooks and pencils.

**TBC **

**AN2: I'd like to get to 35 reviews before I post the next chapter...which I honestly haven't started yet but I will. Like now. I promise =]  
><strong>


	8. Welcome Back

**AN: Still no beta, all mistakes are mine etc. Also, I still don't own Torchwood etc. No surprises there. Sorry this one took a little while longer than I'd planned. **

**Welcome Back:**

Ianto scrubbed his tired eyes as he stumbled down the stairs. To be honest, and Tosh would agree with him here, he was 90% useless before 8am unless he had some caffeine in his system. With that in mind he headed for the kitchen to start the first pot of the day. Yawning, he reached for the carafe and stopped short when he realized it was half full.

_Oh no, did I forget to clean it out yesterday? Shit!_

Closer inspection revealed the coffee to be hot and a careful sniff determined it was fresh. Confused he looked around and jumped when his tad appeared from the living room, thermos in his hand, dressed and shaved.

"Mornin' Ianto. Some mates got me some work down at the docks. Don't know when I'll be back exactly. Any plans for the weekend?"

Stunned by his tad's good mood, but smart enough to take advantage of it while it lasted, Ianto nodded slowly.

"Actually yeah, my mate Jack invited me to spend the night Friday. That ok?"

Ieuan nodded absently, searching the cluttered counter for his wallet and keys.

"Sure, sure, just clean up a bit in here yeah? Can't even find my damn wallet."

Ianto fished the item in question from beneath an old newspaper and some take away menus, handing it over with a small smile. He tried to not to flinch as his tad reached over to ruffle his hair and breathed a sigh of relief when the door closed behind him.

Smiling at his good fortune Ianto poured himself a cup of coffee, grimacing at the taste he quickly poured it out and started a fresh pot. Good mood or no, his tad still made awful coffee.

* * *

><p>Donna Noble smiled as she looked out on the sleepy but smiling faces of her 20 students. The price you pay for teaching an advanced class was dealing with half-awake teenagers at 7 in the morning, a good hour before regular classes begin.<p>

"Good morning everyone and welcome back for another exciting year of Chamber Orchestra!"

There were a handful of claps and even more groans from the assembled students and Donna rolled her eyes good naturedly.

"Right, down to business then; I've decided seat assignments based on your auditions. No complaining! The first seating test will be next week and after that we'll have scheduled challenge days on Friday, just like last semester.

"Section leaders will be as follows; First Violins, Jack Harkness, Second Violins, Toshiko Sato, Viola section, Lisa Hallet, Cellos, Gwen Cooper, Bass is Rhys Williams and Owen Harper, you're lead percussionist."

Cheers went up from the section leaders and there was a flurry of movement as everyone shuffled to get in the right seating arrangements. Miss Noble handed out packets of sheet music with everyone's name and a clipboard to every section leader with a list of names in order of seat assignments. More shuffling and when everyone was in their correct seats Miss Noble tapped her stand and waited for everyone to settle down.

"We'll be working on three major pieces this semester; two classical and one contemporary. Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons- Winter', Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' and the main theme from Pirates of the Caribbean composed by Howard Shore.

"Instead of a concert like last semester, we'll be going to London at the end of the year to compete in the annual music festival, we'll do auditions for solos later but for now I want everyone working with their stand partner or section on learning the pieces. Let's get started with sight reading 'Winter', you have ten minutes to warm up and work in your sections and then we'll play through the piece once. We don't have a lot of time left in class today so I'll take questions after. Right then, off you go!"

Jack flipped through his music until he found page one of 'Winter' and started to read it through, determinedly ignoring his stand partner, John Hart. Hopefully he'd get a new partner after the first seating test. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Bethan and Gwendolyn with their heads together, reading through the score and with a sigh he turned to John who was staring at him expectantly.

"Alright John, let's just get through this ok, no funny business."

John pouted prettily and fluttered his eyelashes at his ex,

"Oh Jackie, you're just no fun anymore."

When Jack just glared at him John sighed and gave in with a small shrug.

"Fine, let's start from the second bar- that's where it speeds up- and play to the coda." *

Nodding his agreement Jack snuck a glance at Ianto while he was tuning up. The younger boy was flushed with excitement, bow sliding confidently over the strings of his viola as his fingers fumbled over the faster notes. He was focusing on intonation, getting all right notes, and Jack figured he'd work on getting the speed right later.

Ten minutes flew by and they stumbled through the piece as a group, each section finishing at slightly different times. Miss Noble wasn't upset though, she didn't expect perfection on the first go.

As the last cello faded out Miss Noble smiled at the class.

"Well, as you can see we have a lot of work to do this semester! But good job everyone, this isn't an easy piece. Tomorrow we'll be working in sections all day. It's important that you play _with _each other, not against each other. Go ahead and pack up now, don't stack your chairs, if you have any questions I'll be here until the first bell, if not get the hell out and I'll see you bright and early tomorrow!"

* * *

><p>Unsurprisingly Owen was the first out of the door, the only thing he had to pack up was his music, shoved haphazardly into his backpack and his drumsticks which he tucked into his back pocket. The rest of the class filed out more sedately, talking amongst themselves excitedly about the upcoming competition, solos, and the sheet music.<p>

Ianto and Lisa walked out together but separated at the end of the hall when Jack grabbed Ianto's hand and Lisa wandered off to find Tosh. She wondered if the violinist had noticed her stand partner, Tommy Brockless staring at her all through class.

Jack was smiling as he walked along with Ianto, holding his hand and talking excitedly,

"That was a fun class. Can you believe we get to play Pirates of the Caribbean?"

Ianto nodded, smiling as well- the older boy's good mood was infectious.

"Yeah, that's pretty cool. Hey, I talked to my tad and he said it was fine. For Friday I mean, I just have a few chores to do and I'm all yours tomorrow!"

Jack grinned lecherously and Ianto instantly regretted his choice of words.

"All mine huh? I like the sound of that."

Ianto blushed but didn't argue as he allowed Jack to drag him towards class.

* * *

><p>By the time lunch rolled around the group was still buzzing with excitement from the first day of Chamber and the announcements Miss Noble had made to the class.<p>

Owen slouched against the lunch table and eyed Tosh' pizza, wondering if he could sneak a slice of pepperoni while she wasn't looking. Glancing up he caught her glaring and opted not to try. For such a small, quiet girl, Tosh could be quite scary when she wanted to be.

Gwen walked up with Andy and Rhys trailing behind and Owen turned his attention to her. The freckled girl had left the top four buttons of her school blouse undone and when she hunched her shoulders to take the weight of her backpack off them, Owen could see the top of her bra.

"Hey Gwen, your shoe's untied."

He called innocently and as she leaned forward to check Owen was rewarded with an ample view of her cleavage.

"No it's not."

She protested, straightening back up with a glare.

Owen merely shrugged and turned his attention back to his lunch. _Gross!_ He hated chicken salad sandwiches.

Gwen took a seat opposite Jack, with Rhys and Andy flanking her on either side. Smiling sweetly she looked at the handsome boy sitting across from her and slowly fluttered her eyelashes in a way her mam's magazines assured her was sultry and alluring.

"Hi Jack. Planning to try out for any solos?"

Jack shrugged absently, intent on cramming his sandwich into his mouth with one hand while he furiously scribbled out his English Comp. homework with the other.

"Dunno yet Gwen. Maybe."

Not put off by his uninterested answer Gwen pouted a little and was about to ask him another question when Lisa arrived and drew everyone's attention to herself with her enthusiastic chatter.

"Hey guys! Guess what? I was talking to Alun- the fourth chair viola player with spiky hair- and he said he'd heard Miss Noble talking to Carys- the percussionist with braces- and Miss Noble said we'd get to vote on the name of the Chamber group again this semester!"

Jack grinned at Ianto around a rather large bite of sandwich, choosing to ignore the younger boy's grimace of distaste, and turned to Lisa after swallowing.

"That's great news Lisa. I vote for Team Torchwood again this semester!"

Ianto and Tosh nodded their agreement but Owen spoke up first,

"I'll vote with you this time Jack, anything beats last semester, who in their right mind would want to be called 'Canary Cog'? Still can't believe that won."

Tosh rolled her eyes, although she secretly agreed with him, it was a stupid name.

"The whole point of 'Canary Cog' was to remind us that we're supposed to work together Owen."

This time Owen rolled _his_ eyes and topped it off by sticking out his tongue,

"Whatever, bloody stupid name no matter what it stood for."

Further discussion was cut off by the warning bell prompting the students to move to their next class.

**TBC**

*****I haven't actually seen the sheet music for this piece so the details are probably way off, if anyone has any corrections please let me know. Also, the pieces I chose for them to learn are just pieces I enjoy listening to, I don't think they're too difficult for the advanced class to be learning…


	9. Slumber Party pt 1

**I don't know why they call it a "slumber" party… Pt. 1**

**AN: Once again, no beta so all mistakes are mine. Also, I don't own Torchwood etc. R&R  
><strong>

Jack fidgeted restlessly as he slouched down in his seat in English Comp. It was his last class of the day and he was more than ready for the weekend to start. Especially since _this _weekend he'd have Ianto all to himself. In addition to a Bond Marathon- it was Ianto's favorite- and some pg-13 snogging, Jack really hoped they could talk. He was certain the younger boy would open up to him if he had the chance, and Jack was going to give it to him.

It seemed liked hours, but it was really only a matter of minutes before the last bell finally rang and Jack was out of his seat like a shot, having packed his backpack as soon as the teacher sat behind their desk- probably looking up music videos on Youtube- leaving the class to start their homework for the weekend. Normally Jack would utilize the time given in class to maximize his free time later but today he couldn't focus and he wasn't going to force it. He was too excited.

Hurrying to his locker to grab his books Jack stopped short when he saw Gwen Cooper leaning against it, idly twisting her dark hair around her fingernails. It wasn't that he didn't like Gwen, she was a cute girl, and a good cellist, but she wasn't Ianto, and she wasn't who he wanted to see draped over his locker. Gritting his teeth he went to his locker, gently moving her aside so he could put in his combination and open it.

"Hiya Jack!"

Forcing a polite smile despite his initial annoyance Jack turned to the shorter girl,

"Oh, hey Gwen. Got any plans for the weekend?"

Gwen smiled and opened her brown eyes as wide as they would go, hoping to look innocent and coy, but coming off rather like a deer caught in the headlights- or a fish that's been pulled out of water and can't catch its breath- and rolled back her shoulders, displaying her cleavage in her partially unbuttoned blouse.

"Not really, I was kind of hoping maybe we could do something together? I'm still new the area and I was thinking you could show me around? We could make a day of it tomorrow, you can show me your favorite haunts and maybe we could grab lunch?"

Jack thought about it, he wouldn't mind showing her around town, but not his weekend. This weekend he had plans.

"Sorry Gwen, I've made plans with Ianto. Maybe next weekend? I could show you the park and then we could go grab lunch at my favorite place for fish and chips."

Disappointed, Gwen pouted, turning her sad brown eyes toward the handsome, taller boy.

"Oh, I- I guess that'd be alright. It's a date then yeah? For next week?"

Jack shrugged absently, trying to catch a glimpse of Ianto in the crowded hall.

"Sure. Sounds good. Oh, there's Ianto!"

Grinning widely he slammed his locker shut and jogged off down the hall to catch up to the younger boy who was walking and talking with Tosh and Lisa. Biting back an annoyed sigh, Gwen trailed after him, determined to try again. Honestly, Ianto wasn't exactly exciting now was he? He never said much and he was really twitchy and odd.

"…I know! Crazy isn't it Tosh? I couldn't believe when Miss Fredricks said _that _in front of the class!"

Caught up in what he was saying, and not paying attention to where he was going Ianto didn't notice and Jack and Gwen heading towards them, but Tosh and Lisa did. Exchanging a conniving look over his head, they gave him a gentle shove, sending him straight into Jack's broad chest. Stumbling back, Ianto blushed furiously and stuttered out an apology/hello while sending murderous glances over his shoulder at his supposed best friends.

"So-sorry. Hey Jack…"

Jack smiled, pulling the embarrassed boy into a warm hug and winking at his co conspirators. Ianto melted into the embrace, but resting his chin on Jack's warm shoulder he caught a glimpse of Gwen who was glaring at him fiercely and immediately stiffened, pulling back from the hug with a weak smile.

"Why Ianto, I had no idea you were so eager to see me!"

Jack teased him with a wink.

Seeing the twinkle in the other boy's eyes, Ianto quickly regained his confidence,

"Actually, I was in a hurry to meet this guy who promised me an exciting, intimate weekend. You might know him, tall, broad shoulders, dark hair, great smile… Oh there he is! Hey Rhys!"

Toshiko and Lisa burst out in a fit of giggles while Jack spluttered indignantly at Ianto's unexpected public teasing. Unexpected, but not unpleasant; he liked when the younger boy was confident enough to show his wicked sense of humor.

Eyes sparkling with joy, the affronted look on Jack's face morphed into a small smile and he gathered the smaller boy to his side in firm embrace.

"I love it when your snarky side comes out Mr. Jones."

He whispered conspiratorially in Ianto's ear causing the other boy's face to warm in another delicate blush.

* * *

><p>Gwen trudged sulkily alongside Tosh and Lisa, a few paces behind Jack and the other boys that made up their unlikely group. As it was Friday, they were taking their time walking home, chatting earnestly amongst themselves with the boys playfully shoving each other every few steps. So far she hadn't gotten an opportunity to talk with Jack again. He and Owen were playing some variation of slug bug* and while he wasn't punching Owen in the arm, or getting punched he seemed distracted by Ianto who kept grabbing his hand in a desperate fashion that made Gwen internally cringe.<p>

Luckily for her she got a break at the crossing when Owen slammed Ianto into the street lamp and took off madly across the street, Ianto hot on his tail. Seizing the chance with gusto, Gwen boldly interrupted Jack's conversation with Rhys, cutting off the tall Welsh boy without so much as an apologetic glance.

"So Jack, I was thinking, maybe if your plans with Ianto finish early we could still do something this weekend. I thought we could take a walk around the city center, maybe down to the bay?"

While she was talking, Rhys' ears pricked up in interest. _Was Jack seeing Gwen on the side now? When had that happened, and what about Ianto?_

"Er, sorry Gwen, but our plans sorta go on for most of the weekend, and then of course I'll have to practice and do my homework. There's a paper due in Economics on Monday."

"Oh, well that's ok. I guess we'll just do that next weekend like we planned?"

She had been so absorbed with trying to convince Jack to ditch the annoying younger boy that she hadn't noticed him and Owen coming back, flushed from running and smiling widely at one another.

"Do what?"

Ianto asked innocently, wondering what he'd missed while he was chasing that stupid wanker, Owen.

Gwen smiled dangerously at him, narrowing her eyes just enough to look menacing,

"Oh Jack's going to take me out on the town, show me around, next weekend. Just the two of us."

The happy smile on Ianto's face turned more somber before he carefully blanked his expression, determined not to show his hurt.

"Sounds fun. I hope you have a wonderful time."

He said diplomatically before quickly walking off from the group, desperate to clear his head.

Throwing Gwen a scathing look, which she misinterpreted as annoyance at the other boy storming off in huff, Jack hurried after Ianto determined to clear things up as soon as possible. He wasn't going to let a misunderstanding ruin their plans for the weekend.

* * *

><p>"Hey Ianto wait up, please!"<p>

Jack called, hurrying to catch up. Ianto didn't stop but he slow his pace enough for Jack to fall into step beside him.

"I'm sorry about that Ianto. She asked me earlier and I wasn't really paying attention so I guess I agreed to show her around town. I didn't think she'd take it like that or try to rub it in your face in front of everyone."

When Ianto didn't respond other than a disbelieving snort, Jack frowned and grabbed his arm, dragging him to a halt.

"Hey! I mean it; I didn't mean anything when I agreed to show her around. I know I have this reputation of a swinger or something 'round school, but I thought you knew me better. You know I've only had a few exes and-"

Rolling his eyes, Ianto deftly reached up and placed a single, long finger over Jack's lips to silence him.

"I didn't mean it like that Jack, god, I just meant Gwen doesn't like me much and I'm not so sure she didn't mean to be, well, _mean_. "

Jack frowned for a moment before shaking his head,

"I don't think she doesn't like you Ianto, she just doesn't know you very well yet. Give her a chance; she seems like a nice enough girl."

He finished optimistically.

Ianto only shrugged noncommittally, he didn't want to argue with Jack over Gwen Cooper. Jack might not see it, but Tosh and Lisa had; Gwen had a mean streak and she didn't hide the fact that she considered him an odd, nuisance.

They lapsed into a heavy silence, broken by approaching voices as the rest of the group caught up to them. Jack shifted nervously from foot to foot, looking earnestly into Ianto's sky blue eyes.

"You still want to come over, right? Do we need to go grab your stuff?"

Suppressing the urge to roll his eyes, Ianto gave Jack a blank look before slowly saying,

"No-"

Seeing the handsome boy's face fall, Ianto felt inexplicably warmer and smiled, nudging his shoulder with his own.

"No, I've already got my clothes and stuff in my bag, we can head straight to your house if you want."

Jack couldn't help chuckling at his deviousness,

"You Ianto Jones are a brat, but that's why I love you."

Before Ianto had a chance to consider the meaning behind that Jack swooped down and kissed him, right in front of everyone. Not a chaste kiss either. The bold, older boy thrust his tongue confidently into Ianto's slack mouth and he couldn't help but respond with equal fervor, bringing his hands up to tangle in Jack's short hair, drawing him closer and sinking into the kiss until they finally broke apart, desperately searching for air.

They stood together quietly for a few moments, foreheads touching as they caught their breath, clinging to each other until the distant sound of cat calls and wolf whistles caught up to them and they stepped apart, Jack grinning and Ianto blushing like mad.

Choosing to ignore the teasing from their friends Jack grabbed Ianto by the hand and the pair continued alone to Jack's house.

**TBC**


	10. Slumber Party pt 2

**I don't know why they call it a "slumber" party… Pt. 2**

**AN: I got so many lovely reviews for part 1 that I decided to upload part 2 early =) you still have to wait for part 3 though, so don't get too excited and keep reviewing XD *hugs you all***

* * *

><p>Setting down the controller with care, Ianto stretched languidly from where he was sprawled in a red beanbag chair, a smug smile plastered across his face.<p>

"Beat you again Jack. What is that, five to one?"

Jack stuck out his tongue childishly, carelessly tossing his controller away and rolling off his blue beanbag chair to his knees. _Was it just him, or did the chair used to be bigger? _

"More like four to one- that second one was a tie and you know it!"

Ianto rolled his eyes, muttering "whatever" under his breath. Jack spotted his lips moving and narrowed his gaze at his Welsh companion. An evil glint sparked in his eyes and without warning he pounced.

Caught by complete surprise Ianto grunted at the sudden lapful of Jack, his breath hitching at the look on the other boy's face. A devious grin overtook Jack's mildly annoyed expression and Ianto couldn't hold back a girly shriek when Jack began to mercilessly tickle his sides.

Laughing like a maniac Ianto pleaded around gasping breaths,

"Jack- Jack stop! Please s-stop! I'll fucking p-puke on you!"

Jack stopped, sharing in Ianto's infectious laughter. The paler boy was flushed a deep crimson, his normally tidy hair was mussed and his blue eyes twinkled with unbridled joy. He looked absolutely beautiful.

Slowly their helpless laughter subsided and soon they were reduced to throaty chuckles intermixed with their still shaking shoulders. Ianto watched entranced as a soft smile crept across Jack's features, bringing out the rosy blush on his cheeks. Ianto's choppy breaths faltered when Jack leaned closer and suddenly they were sharing breaths, noses bumping lightly. Half a shuddering breath and Jack was kissing him.

Drowning him and resuscitating him in the breath. Jack's lips were impossibly soft, his hands ridiculously warm, sliding across his arms, under the sleeve of his t-shirt and caressing his shoulders before skating down rest on his hips.

Ianto moaned softly into the kiss, fingers scrabbling for purchase on Jacks strong shoulders, fluttering at his arms and then settling around his neck, pulling him closer. Breathing through his nose, Ianto explored Jack's mouth with an eager tongue; following along a row of straight teeth to caress the roof of his mouth before moving to tangle with Jack's own.

Shifting restlessly against the body beneath him, Jack groaned as his hard cock brushed against the corresponding bulge in Ianto's school trousers. Thrusting gently his breathing shifted to short pants as Ianto spread his thighs slightly, allowing him to slide closer against him.

Acting instinctively Ianto's legs fell open, shifting up to wrap around Jack's waist, drawing him even closer and tighter against him.

Jack groaned again and pulled away suddenly, panting and gasping for breath, reluctantly putting space between them. Ianto's eyes were mostly pupil, his breathing was erratic and Jack could feel the other boy's heart racing where their chests were still pressed closely together.

"We should stop. Cool off for a minute, we're not thinking properly."

Ianto's eyebrows knit together and it looked like he was going to protest, but instead he took a deep breath and nodded slowly. Kissing the other boy quickly on the mouth, Ianto relaxed against the beanbag chair, smiling when Jack rested his head against his shoulder. They sat like for a few minutes, calming down and willing away their insistent erections. If either realized it might be easier to quell their urges if they moved away from one another, neither said anything.

When they had both calmed down considerably, Jack rolled off, onto the ground and smiled awkwardly.

"Erm, wanna make some popcorn and start the Bond marathon? It's already past eight and we've got a lot of movies to get through."

Ianto smiled, feeling a little shy now that the heated moment had passed and nodded gratefully.

* * *

><p>They were on their second batch of popcorn and third round of Coke by the time the ending credits of the second film, 'From Russia with Love' rolled down the large flat screen in Jack's living room.<p>

It was just past midnight when Jack extricated himself from where he was tangled around Ianto on the comfortable sofa to change DVDs. He popped in 'Goldfinger' and turned to Ianto with a grin,

"You're not sleepy yet, are you?"

Ianto smiled and shook his head, "no".

Settling back against the couch, Jack smiled broadly when Ianto unashamedly cuddled up to him, and reached for the remote. Despite his protests that he wasn't tired, the combination of a mass sugar crash and the warmth of being snuggled up to Jack quickly lulled Ianto to sleep. Content with the boy in his arms, Jack continued to watch the movie, gently smoothing his finger through Ianto's mussed, dark hair.

A loud explosion poured out from the surround sound speakers and Ianto lurched awake, panting, eyes wildly scanning the room. Jack chuckled and hugged the young man closer to his chest.

"It's just the movie Ianto, relax."

But Ianto couldn't relax, still partially in the grip of his nightmare he huddled in on himself, quietly sobbing into Jack's lap.

When Jack realized the other boy wasn't calming down he hastily turned down the volume and flipped on the light, cradling the trembling body close and smoothing his hair back from his sweaty face.

"Ianto, what's wrong? Are you ok? What is it?"

Clutching Jack's t-shirt convulsively Ianto focused on evening out his breathing before he tried to answer. _Breathe in for three counts; breathe out for four, repeat._

Several long, tense moments later Ianto shakily sat up, gratefully accepting the opened water bottle Jack was holding out to him.

"Ianto, what happened? Did you- did you have a nightmare?"

Still unsure of his voice, Ianto nodded in affirmation.

Unsure how to proceed, Jack asked the next question that popped into his head.

"Do you wanna talk about it?"

Ianto looked thoughtful and slowly shook his head, "no", before speaking quietly,

"Can I- can I write it down and you read it? I don't- I can't _talk_ about it yet."

Jack nodded in understanding and gently shifting Ianto off his lap, routed around for his backpack to grab a piece of paper and a pen. Sensing his need for privacy, Jack excused himself to the loo while Ianto tentatively began writing.

* * *

><p>When Jack peeked into the living room Ianto was still writing so he went to the kitchen and dug out some chocolate biscuits, he had a feeling they'd be needed.<p>

Deciding to give Ianto as much time as he needed, Jack set about tidying up the kitchen, picking up the debris from their popcorn and stacking their empty cans by the sink, he'd crush them and take them out tomorrow, er later today.

With the kitchen looking a little bit better, he'd definitely have to clean up more thoroughly before the weekend was over, Jack took a deep breath and re-entered the living room. Ianto had moved to the beanbag chair and restarted the movie, a sheet of paper was lying innocently on the coffee table and Jack hurriedly sat on the couch and started to read Ianto's unusually messy scrawl.

* * *

><p>Carefully folding the paper in half and setting it back on the table, Jack took a steadying breath and crossed to the room to where Ianto was staring blankly at the TV. In the flickering light of the screen, Jack could see dried tear tracks on his pale face.<p>

"Ianto, how- how often do you have that dream?"

Jack could imagine how terrible it would be to have that dream once, let alone on a reoccurring basis like Ianto had hinted in his note. He'd know, like most of the kids in school, that Ianto's mam had committed suicide when he was eight, but he'd had no idea that Ianto had been the one to discover his mother's body slumped in the cooling, red stained bathwater. How awful.

Turning to face Jack with sorrowful eyes more telling than words could ever be, Ianto allowed himself to be gathered in a comforting hug.

Eventually they moved back to the couch, still huddled together and Jack put in the next disk, 'Thunderball' to fill the silence. Stroking Ianto's hair Jack slowly began to speak, voice catching in his scratchy throat,

"I know that was difficult, and I can't- I- thanks, for sharing that with me. I wish I could do something-"

Not sure what he was trying to say, Jack cut himself off and began again,

"I- I've never really talked to anyone about this before but- well, I want to share this with you, then maybe we can help each other…"

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, Jack slowly began to talk, voice cracking with the painful emotions, the memories brought with them.

"You know my parents died when I was young and my brother Gray and I came to live with Uncle John and Aunt Rose. Do you remember my Aunt Rose? She was amazing; she was beautiful and she was so kind… You know Gray was quite a bit older than me, I was about 12 when they- they died, so Gray was 17. I knew he'd been drinking- I knew it and I didn't stop him.

"Aunt Rose called and said that her car wouldn't start, and the Doctor was at a conference, so Gray said he'd pick her up. I- knew he shouldn't drive like that, I took his keys and I wasn't going to give them to him but- oh god, why didn't hold onto them? Why did I let him take them out of my hand? It was all my fault, and when he crashed and they both died- it was my fault! And the Doctor can barely stand to look at me anymore- that's why he never sticks around more than a couple of weeks at most…"

Emotionally drained, Jack trailed off helplessly, taking comfort in the warmth of Ianto's body wrapped around his own.

"Sometimes I dream about that night, and I don't give him the keys and everything's alright. But most of the time I do, and it's terrible! I can see the smashed car and the blood and broken glass, smell them burning…"

He lapsed into silence again and the two boys held each other tightly, absently listening to Sean Connery on screen while they struggled to process their emotions. Ianto found his voice first.

"I'm sorry Jack, you must feel terrible. But you know it's not your fault. You were just a kid and Gray- he made his own decisions."

Jack nodded miserably, burying his head in Ianto's shoulder.

"I know, really I do, but that doesn't make it any easier."

Neither boy wanted to revisit their nightmares so they made a silent accord to stay awake. Jack put in 'You Only Live Twice' and they stayed up, talking softly into the wee hours, finally dropping off around five am with the sun just starting to come up.

**TBC**

**AN2: This chapter was surprisingly difficult to write. Idk, it feels a little choppy to me. Please R&R and tell me what you think. **


	11. Slumber Party pt 3

**I don't know why they call it a "slumber" party pt. 3**

The wonderful smell of fresh coffee prompted Jack to crack open his bleary, crusty eyes around ten on Saturday morning. With a jaw cracking yawn he stretched, wincing at the crick in his neck from falling asleep on the couch. Following his nose he ambled into the kitchen, smiling when he saw Ianto holding two mugs, he gratefully accepted one and took a long gulp. Sinking into a kitchen chair and waiting for the caffeine to do its job Jack scrubbed his tired eyes and looked around.

The kitchen looked…different. He couldn't quite put his finger on why. Taking another long pull on his delicious cup of coffee he blinked and looked more closely. That's what was different- the kitchen was clean. And not just _clean_, it was spotless. Bewildered, he looked questioningly at his guest.

Ianto had followed his eyes as they traced around the room and he found he couldn't hold down a blush when the older boy turned his gaze on him.

"Erm, I hope you don't mind- Tosh is always having a go at me for tidying her room- but I don't sleep much, and when I can't sleep I clean…"

Somewhat in shock all Jack could do was nod idiotically. Noticing the other boy was looking rather uncomfortable Jack smiled and pulled him into a quick hug.

"It's no problem. I'm hardly going to complain that you've done some of my chores for me. Thanks by the way."

A quick look out the kitchen window confirmed it was once again raining, and with a grin, Jack suggested they grab something to snack on and have a rematch on Super Smash Bros. _Ianto was going down. _

* * *

><p>It was past noon when they finally unstuck themselves from the beanbag chairs and agreed to practice for an hour.<p>

Pulling off his headphones in annoyance Jack looked up from his sheet music.

_Stupid allegro! Stupid fucking seventh position, if my fucking fingers would just stop bloody growing I wouldn't have to keep compensating…_

Glancing over at Ianto he noticed the younger boy was having similar difficulties. Making sure Ianto could see him in his peripheral vision, Jack edged closer, smiling when Ianto pulled one headphone down across his jaw.

Jack moved behind him and pressed his front firmly against the slighter boy's straight back. Ianto had impeccable posture, especially when he was playing and sometimes in class Jack had to fight back the urge to trail his fingers down that straight spine. Seeing as they were alone, he had no such reservations and teasingly stroked his fingers across Ianto's shoulders, smiling at the shiver it elicited.

Pressing even closer, Jack reached around Ianto and gently guided his fingers through the difficult 5-7th positions.*

Sucking in a shuddering breath Ianto gamely followed Jack's silent instructions, acutely aware of the warm body pressing against his back, specifically the older boys hips pressed against his arse. Smiling slightly Ianto pressed back against the slight bulge, eyes sparkling in excitement when he felt it stir and twitch.

Jack's breathy moan was hot against his neck, ghosting over his ear and catching on the beads of sweat forming in his hairline. Swallowing past the tightness in his throat that had nothing to do with fear and everything to do with the hands that slowly crept alone his waist line, Ianto spoke in a husky voice that he didn't recognize.

"Is that your bow in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me Jack?"

Jack chuckled in his ear, deep and throaty.

"Can't it be both?"

Fumbling with his viola, placing it hastily on the coffee table, followed closely by his bow and borrowed headphones, Ianto turned in Jack's arms. They stood face to face, noses brushing and hips resting comfortably together.

Jack held Ianto close, relishing the warmth of his body and noting how perfectly they fit together. Each breath either of them took, shifted them closer together; chests brushing, groins rubbing, until they were pressed so closely together no light on earth could shine through the space between.

Emboldened by the desire shining in Jack's dark blue eyes, Ianto pressed forward, stifling a groan when their cocks rubbed through layers of cloth, and took the slightly taller boy's mouth in a needy kiss.

Jack groaned as Ianto's lips descended on his, hands wrapping around the other boy's slim waist, coming to rest on his pert arse which Jack palmed eagerly, swallowing Ianto's wet, breathy moans. Acting on impulse Jack gripped the Welsh boy's firm cheeks and hitched him up, supporting the small frame in his strong arms.

They were both panting hard now, gasping for breath between deep kisses. Ianto wrapped his legs around Jack's waist, gripping and grinding powerfully as his heartbeat thrummed against his eardrums.

Shifting Ianto closer and tighter against him, Jack took a few shaky backward steps towards the couch. Sitting on it heavily he pulled Ianto into place on his lap, thrusting upward as their mouths clashed clumsily; teeth and spit and searing hot breaths. Eagerly his tongue explored the planes of Ianto's moist mouth, seeking out the bold taste of coffee and the lingering flavor of the ham and cheese Hot Pockets they'd eaten earlier.

Breaking apart he buried his nose in Ianto's neck, catching his breath and trailing wet kisses across the pale throat, teeth scraping across the protruding Adams apple. Ianto's breath was warm on his neck as the smaller boy rocked gently on Jack's lap, desperately seeking friction for his aching cock. Pulling back reluctantly Jack searched Ianto's lust blown blue eyes, looking for any sign he should stop. Not seeing any, he decided to err on the side of caution and forced the question past his scratchy throat.

"You ok? Should we stop?"

Ianto chuckled in his ear, tongue darting out to trace along the shell.

"Fuck no!"

That said he dove back in for another breath stealing kiss, teasingly nipping at Jack's warm lips with his teeth. His hands trailed along strong shoulders and across Jack's hard chest, coming to rest just above his flies.

Warm fingers danced below Jack's bellybutton, dipping below his waistband before settling and digging strongly into his hipbones. His own hands mirrored the path Ianto's had taken, taking the time to teasingly stroke over his erect nipples through the soft fabric of his t-shirt, skimming across the flat stomach to rest on the flies of his jeans, hesitating only briefly before popping the snap and slowly lowering the zip.

Quite suddenly Ianto found himself lying back on the sofa, Jack hovering questioningly above him, nimble fingers trailing up and down the open zip of his denims. A bit beyond words, Ianto answered the unspoken question with a searing kiss.

Jack grinned into the kiss, hands tugging at Ianto's jeans and shorts until they were half off his arse, revealing a weeping hardon just begging to be touched. Jack complied eagerly, swirling a single digit around the sensitive head, spreading the moisture across his finger tips and firmly gripping the shaft, pumping it slowly.

Ianto's breath hitched and his fingers fumbled at Jack's waist, tearing open the button and dragging the zip down quickly, eager to uncover what lay beneath the layers of cloth. Briefly stopping his exploration of Ianto's erection, Jack helped to drag his own pants past his hips, swearing loudly when their bare cocks brushed together for the first time.

Reckless and bold with both adrenaline and desire, Ianto brought his hand down to grip them both, eliciting a surprised hiss from Jack and tearing a similar noise past his own swollen lips.

Still kissing fiercely Jack brought his own hand down to rest over Ianto's gripping them both tightly and setting a brutal rhythm. Panting, gasping, groaning they steadily worked toward mutual satisfaction.

Ianto's stomach muscles tightened in anticipation, he could feel the coil of arousal tighten deep in his belly; building up- white hot pressure. With a shuddering breath he gave into the sensation, vision blacking out, his heart slamming painfully in his chest, echoing in his ears.

With a strangled gasp Jack followed him over the edge, legs spasming and giving out from the power of his orgasm. Vaguely conscious of the boy under him, Jack rolled slightly to the side as he collapsed, spent, onto the couch. Smiling he wrapped himself around his lover, running shaky fingers though Ianto's sweat damp hair. Eventually they'd have to move; clean up and fix their clothes, but for now Jack was content cuddled up to Ianto in the lazy aftermath of their encounter.

**TBC**

* I don't play viola so don't kill me if I got this wrong….

**AN: You like? I'm still fairly new to writing to slash sexyness so plz R&R and tell me what you think ;)**


	12. Letters

**AN: Sorry this took a bit longer that I'd hoped. Writer's block is a b**ch! I don't own anything, all mistakes are mine etc. **

**Letters**

Ianto walked slowly back from Jack's house to his own, painfully aware of the idiotic grin painted across his face. He was so happily engrossed in his thoughts he didn't notice his father's car was back in the drive.

Humming under his breath he unlocked the front door and stepped inside. The smile slid from his face and he groaned when he saw the state of the entryway. His tad's muddy work boots lay haphazardly in the middle of the floor- dried mud falling off in flakes- where they'd been kicked off his feet. The coat rack had been overturned; its contents scattered on the floor, the small table was pulled out from the wall and a soggy newspaper had been strewn across the entire space.

Dropping his stuff by the door and hesitantly continuing to the living room Ianto frowned when he saw it was in a similar state, complete with his father passed out on the sofa. Biting back an annoyed sigh he crept closer to the couch and gently liberated an empty bottle from his tad's mostly limp hand. He watched the man for a few minutes and satisfied that he was still breathing, pulled the old throw blanket from the back of sofa across his prone form.

Shifting the worn, knit blanket from where it was stuck between the cushions dislodged several letters from the crease—some opened but a few were still intact. Flipping through them as he walked to the kitchen he noted most of them were bills, one letter from Great Aunt Gladys already opened, and one from Rhiannon addressed to him. It was unopened, but it had been near the bottom of the pile so it more likely that his tad had passed out before he got to it verses he was respecting Ianto's privacy.

He tucked the letter into his back pocket to read later and set about cleaning up the mess his tad had made. The kitchen was mostly clean and under a few bottle caps Ianto spotted a work schedule—he'd have to get his tad up by six for him to get to work on time. Setting the alarm on his watch so he wouldn't forget he grabbed a bucket and some rags to clean the mud from the entry way.

* * *

><p>Owen slammed the front door loudly behind him as he stormed down the front steps, pointedly ignoring the shouts of outrage that followed him down the street. Of course he wasn't surprised that his mother was already drunk- even though it was barely 4:00- nor was he surprised to see her current boyfriend slouched across the sofa in a pair of filthy boxers.<p>

_Tosser!_

No, he wasn't surprised at all, but that didn't mean he liked it either.

Clutching a half opened letter in his hand, the same letter he had liberated from what's-his-face's grubby little fists just moments ago, Owen hurried a good few yards down the street, and leaning against a lamppost tore it the rest of the way open. He hadn't needed to check the front to know it was from his dad- not like anyone else sent him actual _letters_. Getting it open he grabbed the check he knew would be there, tossing the crumpled envelope along with the note- unread- into the street as he hurried to the corner store.

The attendant knew him and cashed the check without even asking for ID. Smiling at the pretty blonde, Owen bought a pack of smokes and a lighter before hurrying out of the store. Grinning and whistling he lit up and headed towards the park. Rudely chasing off some little kids he climbed atop the monkey bars and lit another fag, brooding as he watched the grey clouds roll by.

Behind him the chains of the ancient swing set creaked and groaned as someone sat down in the rain-damp seat. Scowling he flicked the half smoked fag away and spoke without bothering to turn.

"Thought I told you little tossers to slag off!"

A throaty feminine chuckle startled him into nearly falling off the aged climbing structure and he whirled around, surprised look morphing into a smug smirk when he saw Gwen Cooper sitting on the swing, idly spinning with the toes of her trainers dragging into the wet sand.

"What you doing out here Cooper? Taking a break from chasing Jack?"

Gwen shrugged her shoulders, refusing to rise to the bait. She watched with calculating eyes as Owen lit another fag.

"Can I have one?"

Shrugging a single shoulder to show his indifference Owen tossed the pack and lighter toward the swings, smiling when she stretched to catch it, showing her cleavage in the low rise top. Gwen expertly lit up, tossing the pack back, and began to slowly swing back and forth. Each forward pump of her legs displayed her breasts and Owen decided to stay in his lofty perch for the excellent view.

* * *

><p>Ianto sighed in relief when the front door slammed shut followed the sound of his tad's engine warming up in the drive.<p>

Ieuan had been less than grateful when his son woke him half an hour ago to get ready for work, but the boy had had a large thermos of hot coffee waiting for him and that alone helped his mood quite a bit. He may be an annoying, whining brat—but he made damn good coffee.

Peeking from behind the curtain to make sure his tad was gone, Ianto hurried up to his room to read his letter from Rhi. It was a short letter, more a note really, just to say she was doing well in school and she missed him, but she'd sent him a bit of cash and for that he was more than grateful. If the evidence of last nights' binge was anything to go by, his tad's current job wouldn't last very long and he'd need the money for food after what was left of his tad's paycheck went to pay the bills.

Pulling the top drawer all the way out from his dresser Ianto added the cash to the envelope he'd taped to the back of it, humming once more—a little louder this time since he had the house to himself—Ianto smiled as he remembered earlier that day...

_Stepping out of the shower in Jack's bathroom, Ianto sent a mental thank you out into the universe to his mam for teaching him it was always better to pack an extra pair of shorts and not need them, them to not pack them and end up needing them. Of course thinking about _why _he needed an extra pair of shorts brought a blush to face. _

_Vigorously rubbing his hair dry with a towel Ianto choked in surprise when the bathroom door opened. _

_Jack grinned lecherously at him from the doorway. _

"_Need a hand drying off?"_

Jack had given him a _hand _alright, followed by a mouth, prompting Ianto to fumble his way through returning the favor. He didn't think he'd done that great of a job but Jack been enthusiastic with his praise afterwards…

Startled out of his musings by a knock on the door Ianto peered out his bedroom window, smiling when he spotted Tosh and Lisa on the front step. Running down the steps and quickly checking that the house was clean, Ianto grabbed his coat and the trio headed to the park. According to the schedule, his tad wouldn't get off work until after midnight and he'd probably hit the pubs with his friends so Ianto wasn't worried.

As they tramped across the wet sand of the playground Tosh wrinkled her nose at the cigarette butts littering the ground.

"I wish they wouldn't throw those everywhere, there's an ashtray ten feet from here!"

Lisa nodded in agreement, and Ianto obligingly bobbed his head, biting his tongue to keep from reminding her that Owen was the most likely culprit. He just didn't get what Tosh saw in Owen; sure he was funny but he was also a twat and he treated girls like objects to be played with and petted. She could do _much _better than Owen- chases anything in a short skirt with bit tits- Harper.

* * *

><p>Owen left Gwen's house minutes before her mum got home, smirking when he saw a flustered Gwen greet her from his spot just 'round the corner. Gwen Cooper may be a tease, but she certainly didn't play hard to get—dropped her knickers right quick. Heading back toward the park he stopped short when he heard a round of shrieks followed by Ianto's indignant voice hissing;<p>

"Keep it down would you? You sound like a bunch of old witches cackling and shrieking like that!"

Tosh, Lisa and Ianto were on the swings, all giggling like a pack of bloody hyenas. _Girls! _

Deciding he'd rather steer clear of the lot of them, Owen took the long way home across the overpass. It would give him more time to think before he got back anyway, and maybe his mum's latest boy-toy would be gone. _Not bloody likely. _

**TBC**

**AN2: Sorry this chapter is a bit short and possibly (hopefully not) boring. Things should get more interesting in chapter 11. Thanks for sticking with me and please R&R [=**


	13. Confrontations pt 1

**Confrontations pt. 1**

Jack left his quiet house Monday morning with a purposeful spring in his step. He wasn't blind; he'd seen the fading bruises on Ianto's back and thighs—it was hard to miss the large boot- shaped blotches on the otherwise pale skin. He'd seen them and he was determined to get Ianto alone at some point during the day so he could question him. It hadn't seemed smart to bring them up before, not when Ianto had finally opened up a bit and they were _really _enjoying themselves, but he couldn't ignore it altogether.

By the time he rounded the corner to Ianto's street he had a plan half-formed in his mind; he'd snag the Welsh boy on the way to school and breach the subject, and then spend the rest of the day slowly wearing him down. _Yeah, that would work._

Unfortunately the plan fell through when he arrived at Ianto's house to find the younger boy sitting on the front step next to Tosh, their heads together as they chatted secretively. Ianto looked up with a large grin on his face and bounded over to Jack, hugging him tightly. Jack was so surprised by the open display of affection, mixed with Ianto's obvious happiness he couldn't bring himself to breach the subject—quite possibly bringing down the boys good mood.

Deciding it would keep 'till later Jack leaned down and gave Ianto a good morning kiss, enjoying the others blush when Tosh 'awwed' dramatically from the porch step.

Smiling brightly Ianto hugged Jack again saying,

"I've got a surprise for you."

Jack grinned and mock gasped,

"Really Ianto I'm surprised at you, right _here_ in front of Tosh?"

Frowning playfully Ianto smacked him on the arm.

"Well if you don't want it, fine."

"No, no! I want, I want, I was just worried that Tosh would get jealous."

Ianto rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"I wouldn't worry about that Jack, Tosh was here early and she's already had hers."

At the other boys confused expression Ianto patiently explained,

"Coffee Jack. I've saved you some coffee, but if you don't want it I'm sure Tosh wouldn't mind drinking yours."

"What? No! Where is it?"

Tosh produced a thermos from behind her on the step and dutifully handed it over to Ianto who ferried it to Jack, the latter received the offering with eager hands. Wasting no time he opened the thermos and took a healthy swallow, smiling and dribbling a bit down his chin at the delightful taste on his tongue.

Ianto wiped the spilled coffee from Jack's chin like one would do for a small child and smiled indulgently at his boyfriend. Jack ignored the action in favor of drinking more of the sinfully delicious caffeinated beverage.

Gathering up their bags and instruments they plodded off toward school, Ianto and Tosh talking while Jack attempted to drown himself in the travel mug. As they passed Lisa's house he forced himself to look up from the tempting brew, a questioning look on his face as they passed the empty driveway without even slowing.

"Hey what about Lisa? You're not fighting are you?"

Rolling his eyes again Ianto turned to face Jack,

"Of course not, she has a dentist appointment this morning—won't be at school until lunch."

"Lucky."

Jack muttered under his breath, returning his attention to the rapidly disappearing coffee. Tosh looked longingly at the thermos, wondering if Ianto would surprise her with a cup again tomorrow morning and absently replied,

"Not really, nothing lucky about getting fitted for braces. I'd rather have double history with Mr. Hall than that."

Both boys shuddered at the thought. Mr. Hall, while nice, was a notoriously boring teacher known for putting his students to sleep during his lectures.

* * *

><p>Owen spotted the trio coming up the street and hastily stomped out his cigarette. Tosh hated the smell and he was in too good a mood to listen to one of her lectures about the dangers of smoking. Funny how she could go on for hours about second-hand smoke killing people yet she never said anything about her precious Ianto's habit. Speaking of which, he needed to talk to him.<p>

"Morning guys!"

He cried when they were within hearing distance. Tosh hollered hello back and the boys waved. As they drew closer Tosh wrinkled her nose at the lingering smell of smoke but thankfully didn't say anything.

He'd put it out already and she really couldn't complain when he'd made the effort.

Jack eyed him suspiciously.

"Alright Harper, what's got you in such a good mood today?"

Owen shrugged and replied offhandedly,

"Beautiful day that's all."

Ianto and Jack shared a look and each grabbed one of Owens arms, trapping the grinning Londoner between them.

"Spill. You got lucky didn't you?"

In response Owen grinned wider but refused to comment.

"C'mon Owen, who was it? Anyone we know?"

Shrugging them off Owen hurried a few steps ahead to walk beside Tosh who had gone quiet, a troubled expression on her face.

"Fuck off Harkness! I'm not saying anything."

More quietly he said to Tosh,

"Hey what's wrong Tosh? These tossers being too lovey-dovey for you?"

Exhaling loudly through her nose Tosh sped up, calling over her shoulder,

"Fuck off Owen, I'd rather watch them snog than hear about your conquests any day of the week."

Owen blinked in confusion, turning to Jack and Ianto who he noticed were holding hands _again_,

"What did I say?"

Jack looked equally perplexed but Ianto just rolled his eyes- one of these days they'd roll right out of his head- and answered sarcastically before dropping Jack's hand to catch up with Toshiko.

"Do you really have to ask Owen?"

* * *

><p>Jack tapped his pencil against his notebook, watching the clock in anticipation of the lunch bell. Classes had kept him busy for the first part of the day and during the break when he'd gone to talk to Ianto, the boy had been in deep discussion with Owen. His plan now was to steal the younger boy away during lunch and charm him into talking.<p>

The plan came to shuddering halt when Gwen cornered him the moment he stepped out his class. _How did she get here so fast? The bell has only just rung. _

Accepting the inevitable, Jack walked Gwen to lunch absently answering her questions as he reformulated his plan for getting Ianto to spill his guts.

* * *

><p>Ianto looked nervously around the girl's bathroom from where he stood next to Tosh, trying to coax Lisa out of the locked stall. He froze when the door opened and Mary walked in. She didn't even blink at seeing him in the girl's room.<p>

"Hiya Tosh! Hey Ianto, did you study for that test in English?"

"Er yeah, should be easy."

Mary nodded and finished fixing her hair in front of the mirror before waving cheerfully as she left. Bewildered, Ianto turned toward Tosh who shrugged.

"Told you no one would care. Everyone knows your gay and to be honest most of the girls think it's cute- you're hardly a threat Ianto. Now could we please focus?"

Too stunned to be affronted by that comment Ianto nodded dumbly and peered through the crack in the stall door.

"C'mon Lisa, it can't be that bad. Remember when Annie got braces? Nobody teased her for it."

There was a loud sniffle from behind the door as Lisa finally gave in.

"Alright, but you have to swear not to laugh."

Exchanging a long suffering look Tosh and Ianto replied in unison;

"We swear."

There a bit of rustling and the door squeaked open revealing a sad faced Lisa with tear tracks down her normally cheerful face. She smiled dully, showing off the metalwork now residing in her mouth.

Tosh spoke first,

"It's not so bad Lisa. Besides the purple really sets off your eyes."

Lisa sniffed again and brushed past them to peer at herself critically in the mirror.

"Really? You're not just saying that?"

Grunting when Tosh elbowed him in the side Ianto quickly agreed,

"Course not; you won't have to wear them forever anyways. And Tosh is right, I read in a magazine that purple eye shadow adds depth to brown eyes so I imagine purple braces would do the same."

Tosh and Lisa both turned to stare at him and Ianto blushed, realizing what he'd said. He quickly became defensive, feeling the need to defend his masculinity after Tosh' earlier comment about all the girls thinking it was "cute" that he was queer.

"What? Rhiannon left some of her magazines lying about…"

It fell on deaf ears though as the girls were too busy giggling to hear.

"Oh Yan, you are _so _gay."

Lisa said through fits of laughter, her earlier insecurities forgotten. Ianto huffed and stormed out of the bathroom.

_Bloody girls._

* * *

><p>By the time the three of them made it out to lunch their table was surrounded by a throng of laughing students with Jack in the center—no surprise there. What caused Ianto to pause mid-step was the sight of Gwen Cooper seated comfortably on Jack's lap, looking quite pleased with herself and right at home. Apparently the charismatic boy felt the need to illustrate whatever point he was making with a practical demonstration and planted a kiss right on Gwen's beaming face.<p>

Upset, but not really surprised—Jack was a terrible flirt after all, Ianto found he'd lost his appetite and headed back inside. Lisa followed him while Tosh headed off to confront Harkness.

_Boys were so dumb sometimes. _

**TBC**

**AN: Part 2 will be up soon (I think- my muses switched on me again and I've been drawing like a fiend rather than writing =/ apologies) please R&R  
><strong>


	14. Confrontations pt 2

**AN: Sorry this is taking so long, I've got writer's block like mad .  
>All mistakes are mine, don't own anything blah blah blah. <strong>

**Confrontations pt. 2**

While everyone gathered around him was busy laughing at his latest joke, Jack took the opportunity to look around the school yard hoping to catch a glimpse of Ianto. He didn't see the Welsh boy, only an angry looking Toshiko headed straight for him. Uh oh…

Standing quickly and dislodging an indignant Gwen from his lap—he'd only pulled her onto his lap to illustrate a point in his story about that time he'd been stuck on a bus with half a dozen randy Catholic schoolgirls, he hadn't expected her to stay there—Jack walked warily towards his angry friend wondering what had got her so out of sorts. And more importantly, where was Ianto?

"Hey Tosh have you seen—"

Tosh interrupted him, her voice clipped and her tone biting.

"Ianto? Why yes Jack, I have and he's just seen you."

Jack looked at her blankly and she sighed loudly in frustration,

"Honestly Jack I swear… he's just seen you surrounded by your giggling fans with Gwen-bloody-Cooper sat on your lap!"

Eyes widening with understanding Jack cursed under his breath. _Shit._

"Ianto really likes you Jack, he's liked you since primary for fuck's sake and just when you've started to notice him, convinced him you like him too, you pull a stunt like this! And the worst part, the worst part is Jack, that I think he's been expecting it. It's no secret you have a reputation around school as a bit of man-whore; you're a terribly flirt but we thought—I thought maybe this time it'd be different. I thought you really cared about him."

Running his hands through his fashionably spikey hair in frustration Jack chuckled bitterly.

"It's nice to know what you really think of me Tosh, no you're right I do have a 'reputation' but I thought you knew me better than to believe everything you'd heard 'round school. I wasn't trying to be a twat, I do care about him and I've not _just _noticed him. I've only just figured out what I really want."

Tosh narrowed her eyes at her incorrigible friend, weighing his words against her outrage on Ianto's behalf.

"Does he know that? 'Cuz when Lisa and I talked to him yesterday he seemed to think he was just a passing fancy. Said he wasn't sure what _this_ was, or where it was really going. Seemed pretty convinced someone else—I believe Cooper was mentioned—would catch your eye before the week was up. He was so happy Jack, telling us about your weekend together, but then Lisa asked; 'are you boyfriends now'? And Ianto said no, you'd never said anything and he was afraid to bring it up."

Jack blinked slowly as he processed what Tosh was saying.

"But we talked about a lot about things—he really opened up to me and me to him, I thought we were like connecting or something. Why was he afraid to bring _that_ up?"

Tosh rolled her eyes dramatically enough to have made Ianto proud if he'd seen it,

"Gee I dunno Jack, maybe because you can't even say it. Ianto may be shy and a bit naïve but he's far from stupid. He guards himself much too closely to bring up the R-word to the guy who's never been in a relationship longer than 4 months—and that was with John Hart! Think about it Jack, you're the only person he's really liked since he was nine years old, meaning the only one he's ever, you know, _been with_—this is all new to him and he doesn't want to scare you off by being clingy."

Jack's mind was working furiously; it was a wonder steam was coming out from his ears, as he thought about what Tosh was saying. Damnit she was right. He'd been so stupid, assuming Ianto knew how he felt about him without him saying it. Honestly though, he'd thought it was pretty obvious to the world that he'd had a crush on Ianto for almost as long as the younger boy had liked him.

He didn't exactly go to great lengths to hide it, but then again, Tosh was right. He was a terrible flirt and he supposed most people would assume his friendliness toward Ianto was no different to how he behaved with everyone else. It was time to fix that, starting with Yan.

"You're absolutely right Tosh, but I need your help…"

* * *

><p>Ianto sat underneath the bleachers with his knees pulled tight to his chest, wondering why he'd ever let himself think that maybe, just maybe Jack had changed. That he could ever be enough for the outgoing, charismatic, charming, arsehole of a boy. Lisa sat next to him in a similar fashion, one arm wrapped loosely around his shoulder.<p>

"You ok Yan?"

The miserable boy shrugged, staring at the faded knees of his school trousers.

"Yeah, I guess. I just thought, well I thought he really like me. Pretty stupid yeah?"

Lisa hugged him tighter, wrapping both arms around his skinny frame.

"He does like you Yan, he's just Jack. You know how he is."

Ianto laughed bitterly.

"Yeah, I guess I do."

The pair lapsed into a strained silence, safely hidden in their secret spot in the gymnasium.

* * *

><p>Gwen was fuming. First Jack dumps her off his lap like a dirty gym bag and then he takes off with Toshiko without a word of goodbye. Not even a wave. Bastard. Flicking her hair over her shoulder she feigned indifference and turned her attention back to Rhys who was <em>still<em> talking about last night's rugby. Fuck's sake, she was as Welsh as anyone but even _she_ got tired of rugby talk. Smiling as she realized something Gwen started to form a plan.

If the word around school was anything to go by—and it usually was—Jack liked a challenge. She could give him that, she'd just have to change her game plan and play hard to get. She'd make him jealous and then he'd be forced to admit his feelings for her, he'd tell that annoying little Ianto to fuck off and she could get rid of Owen. He was fun and all, but he wasn't Jack.

Tomorrow she'd invite everyone over to practice for the first seating test, her mam had been all over her to bring some friends home—some rubbish about making sure she was properly adjusting and all. She could give her mam what she wanted, give Owen what he wanted and make Jack jealous all at the same time. It was brilliant!

"Hey Rhys, how'd you like to come over to mine tomorrow after school?"

She asked, eyes wide and pleading. Rhys blushed a bit and smiled brightly.

"Sure Gwen I'd love—"

"You too Owen, Andy, we'll get Jack and the others and make a day of it yeah?"

Rhys' face fell but he smiled anyway, he'd hoped Gwen had noticed him finally, apparently not. Owen and Andy shrugged, a little extra practice wouldn't hurt them and it was excuse not to head straight home.

"It's settled then, I'll ask Jack next class"

Gwen smiled.

* * *

><p>Ianto was already in his seat by the time the bell rang, Lisa had wanted to change for gym before the other girls came in and he'd decided just to head off to maths. Usually he and Tosh were the first ones in, so he was more than a little worried when she still hadn't shown up after the second bell. Luckily the teacher wasn't there yet either so she was able to slide into her seat five minutes late, just as the teacher showed up spouting apologies and something about the clocks being off in the faculty room.<p>

No one bought his story, it was no secret he had a thing going with the year ten science teacher, they were probably snogging and didn't hear the bell.

Tosh nudged Ianto's arm and dropped a piece of paper into his lap. He looked at her questioningly but she only smiled and gestured to the note.

Pulling out his homework he placed it on the corner of the desk for the teacher to stamp and opened his textbook to the last chapter they were on, flipping his notebook to the right page and smoothing the letter across it; disguising it as class notes. Ianto paused in straightening the bent corners of the note when he recognized Jack's untidy scrawl. He looked at Tosh for an explanation but she was busily reviewing her notes, ignoring him.

_Hey Yan!_

_I know you probably don't believe me—and I don't blame you—but I missed you at lunch today. Tosh says you came out but I didn't see you, I was telling that story about the Catholic school girls on the bus that got stopped because the fare box jammed. I think they were drunk… anyway; I wanted to say I'm sorry. _

_Tosh and I had a talk, well she told me what for, but I realized that maybe there were some things we should've talked about last weekend, maybe before it. I never meant to make you think you were just a fling or something. I really like you Ianto Jones and I have for a while. I think that may be why none of my other relationships have ever lasted very long. It was fun at first, but they weren't _you_. _

_What I'm trying to say is I'd like to be your boyfriend, if you'll have me. You're my best friend Yan, and I don't want to screw that up. But I feel so different when I'm with you, like I can actually be _me_ and not who everyone expects me to be. You know? I'd hate to lose you as a friend or otherwise, you've always been my Yan and I'd thought you knew that but apparently not. So I'll say it. _

_You're _my _Yan and if you want, my boyfriend, best friend and lover. I don't think I need to tell you how great a time I had this last weekend, I hope we can do it again soon—not just snogging ect. But also hanging out, I like spending time with you. _

_Meet me at the library after school?_

_Love, _

_Your Jack_

Ianto looked up from the note, absently aware that his homework had been stamped and they were going through it on the board. He snuck a glance at Tosh and found her staring at him, a smile on her face. He raised an eyebrow in question but Tosh only smirked and turned back to the board. A bit dazed, Ianto made a mental note to ask Tosh to see her corrected homework after class and turned his attention back to the letter.

He couldn't keep the smile off his face; Jack Harkness, school Casanova, wanted to be _his _boyfriend.

* * *

><p>Gwen sighed in annoyance when Jack ignored her question for the third time since class started. Giving up on being nice she elbowed him in the side, smiling tightly when he finally turned to look at her.<p>

"Jack! I've been trying to get your attention for ages!"

"Sorry Gwen, lot on my mind."

Wondering what he'd been thinking about, but deciding it would keep 'till later Gwen asked him a fourth time,

"I've been trying to tell you, my mam wants me to bring some friends home so she can meet them. I'm having the group over tomorrow after school to practice for the seating test. Wanna come?"

"Sure, whatever Gwen. Sounds good, me and Ianto will definitely be there."

_I hope._ He thought to himself, wondering how the younger boy had accepted his note and apology.

Gwen chose to ignore the last bit and smiled at the knowledge that he would be coming over tomorrow. She'd have Owen over again today and work up to making Jack jealous by getting Owen to hang all over her.

* * *

><p>The bell hadn't finished ringing by the time Jack was out of seat after maths, his last class of the day. Hurrying to his locker he swapped books and folders until he had what he needed and grabbed his violin, practically running to the library, ignoring the odd looks he got on the way. Despite his best efforts to get there first, by the time he arrived Ianto was already there, sitting on the steps and staring at his feet.<p>

Jack felt a lump form in his throat, breath catching painfully as Ianto slowly looked up. A brilliant smile overtook the younger boys face and the nasty lump disappeared as quickly as it had formed. He bounded forward, collapsing next to Ianto in a tangle of knees, school bags and instrument cases. The two stared at one another for a moment before Ianto pressed their lips together in a firm kiss. Pulling back he smiled, blue eyes sparkling like the sun on the sea and said a single word that made Jack's heart flip.

"Yes."

Grinning Jack pulled him close for a proper snog, forgetting for a moment where they were. The sound of someone clearing their throat brought him back to reality and he pulled back from the kiss to squint up at Ms. Noble, who was coming out of the library, the stern look on her face softened by the twinkle in her eyes.

"Mr. Harkness, Mr. Jones, please remember the school rules. I suggest you move your 'activities' off of school grounds. See you tomorrow morning boys."

She said with a wink, causing both boys to blush as being caught. Taking her warning to heart, Jack rose gracefully, pulling Ianto to his feet and heading off toward home, still holding the other boy's hand.

They rounded the corner and Jack pulled Ianto in the direction of the park. The younger boy only hesitated for a moment before giving in, allowing Jack to lead to sit on the grass by a large tree. Sitting cross-legged, facing each other Jack smiled, struggling to speak around to urge to giggle like mad.

"So, boyfriends?"

Ianto blushed again but nodded, reaching out to take Jack's hand.

"Yep. You're stuck with me now Jack."

The older boy smiled and tugged on his boyfriend's hand, pulling him closer and into a messy kiss.

**TBC**


	15. Confrontations pt 3

**AN: Sorry it's been so long. It's like my brain went on vacation without me aka .**

**Confrontations pt. 3**

It was with great reluctance that Jack finally allowed his boyfriend to pull back from their kiss. _Boyfriend._ He really liked the sound of that. He hadn't tried a real relationship since John—who turned out to be quite psychotic underneath his pretty face. Part of him wondered why it had taken him so long to finally be with Ianto, but deep down he knew the reason. He was scared.

Jack had had a crush on Ianto since they were little and he knew Ianto liked him too, it was the one secret the younger boy hadn't managed to keep to himself. That was part of what scared him; Ianto liked him a lot, looked up to him, according to Tosh he practically idolized him—and that was scary. What if he let Ianto down? He'd lose a friend on top of whatever they'd managed to have, so Jack had waited until he was more sure of himself; sure he was mature enough to handle a real relationship with his best friend.

While he wasn't one hundred percent certain he wouldn't hurt the younger boy, Jack was determined to try and he didn't want to wait any longer.

"Jack, as lovely has this has been—sitting in the wet grass, snogging for everyone and their mother to see, I really need to get home."

Sighing dramatically Jack got up, brushing stray bits of grass from his trousers before reaching down to pull Ianto to his feet.

"I know. I'll walk you home, oh yeah; Gwen invited us over tomorrow after school to practice for the seating test this Thursday. Want to go?"

Ianto shrugged but nodded. He didn't really want to go to Gwen's house, but it would give him more time with Jack so he'd muddle through. They walked in silence for a bit, each lost in their own thoughts and it wasn't until they heard catcalls from some school girls as they rounded the corner that Ianto realized Jack had yet to let go of his hand. For once it didn't bother him.

As they parted ways at the corner Jack watched Ianto walk toward his house, mentally berating himself for missing another opportunity to talk with younger boy about his tad.

* * *

><p>Ianto jerked back violently when the front door slammed open and was loudly kicked shut, very nearly dropping the glass he'd been drying on the kitchen floor. His father's heavy boots stomped down the hall and toward the kitchen, leaving a path of mud and oil in their wake. Shoulders tensed tightly and hands shaking, Ianto turned toward the sink and kept drying; hoping that if he was working his tad would leave him alone.<p>

It didn't work. Ieuan Jones was angry and drunk and as usual, his son provided a convenient outlet for his rage. The first blow to his back caught Ianto off guard and he dropped a plate. It fell into the sink and shattered against the porcelain. The second hit came too fast for him to dodge but as he scrambled to put the table between him and his father he managed to narrowly avoid a forceful kick.

Ieuan growled as his son avoided him in the small kitchen.

"You lazy little shit! I expect this to be done before I get home from work, where've you been that you didn't get it finished? Out with your stupid little friends I bet."

Backing away slowly Ianto refrained from mentioning to the enraged man that he was home earlier than usual, knowing it would just make things worse.

His father grabbed the largest piece of the broken plate from the sink and hurled it at him, clipping him on the side of the neck.

"Clumsy little brat! You're gonna pay me back for the plate you broke…"

The inebriated man trailed off and his hazy eyes scanned the kitchen for his left over bottle of Jack. Ianto saw his father's attention waver and took the chance to flee, running up the stairs and locking himself in his room.

Ieuan's angry shouts followed him up the stairs and his heavy footsteps pounded after him as he followed. Ignoring the pain in his shoulders Ianto dragged his dresser, the heaviest piece of furniture in his room across the floor to barricade his door. To be on the safe side he slid his bed out from the wall at an angle so the front of the dresser was pressed to the foot of the bed which in turn was wedged against the wall.

Satisfied that there was no way his tad could get in Ianto sat against the corner, breathing heavily as his shoulders throbbed in time with his rapid heartbeat. He brought a shaking hand up to his neck and sighed in relief when it came away with only a small smear of blood. It stung like hell but it wouldn't kill him.

Closing his eyes and pressing his hands against his ears Ianto tried to block out his father's cursing from the other side of the door. A forceful kick rattled the walls and the boy huddled deeper into the corner, wondering if he pressed back far enough would he fall through the wall? Maybe he'd end up in another dimension like in Chronicles of Narnia or on another world like in those shows Tosh liked to watch.

The walls stopped shaking and Ianto tentatively pulled his hands from his ears. His father's angry cursing faded as he stomped back down the stairs. There was a crash and thump followed by the sound on the telly being turned way up and Ianto sighed in relief. His tad wouldn't bother him again except for off chance that he sobered up before he fell asleep and then he might possibly try to apologize.

For Ianto the apologies were worse than the beatings or the yelling, because he knew that the next day his tad would just do it again.

Standing from his crouched position Ianto groaned, his entire body ached. Lying on his stomach he reached under his bed and pulled a small cigar box from one of the larger tears in the netting beneath his ancient box-spring. Inside the cardboard box was an old envelope with whatever money he managed to save, a few precious photographs of his mam, Rhiannon and his friends, and most importantly a red drawstring pouch. Clumsily loosening the ties he carefully dumped the contents of the bag onto this carpet. A red bic lighter, and something wrapped tightly in blue flannel spilled onto the floor. Unwinding the flannel-once upon a time it had been a sleeve from his mam's favorite pajama top-he extracted a tiny press n seal baggy and small glass pipe.

Packing what was left in the bag into the bowl—making a mental note to speak to Owen in the morning—Ianto opened his window rested his head against the frame. The click of the lighter was loud to his own ears, but in reality it was swallowed by the din of the TV from downstairs. Ianto look a long hit, holding the bitter smoke in his lungs before releasing it a sudden burst when his sore ribs protested to the deep breath. Three smaller hits and Ianto rested the warm pipe on his window sill, sliding bonelessly down the wall to sit on the floor.

For a dizzying moment his vision blacked out and he was floating weightlessly in space. Coming back to his body Ianto endured a minute or two of intense pain as his senses heightened before it faded away to a dull thrum as the weed did its job leaving him pleasantly numb.

Shaking himself lightly as he realized he'd been crouched next to the window for several minutes and his legs were cramping, Ianto slowly stood, enjoying the head rush that accompanied the action, and moved to lie on his stomach across his bed. Letting his eyelids droop and his mind wander Ianto lazily drifted and organized his thoughts.

* * *

><p>Two houses down a much quieter argument was taking place. Tosh had been sitting at her desk, finishing the last of her homework and listening to music when her father had knocked on her door, coming in before she could reply that it was alright. He'd had another handful of University brochures and pamphlets about summer opportunities he wanted her to look at.<p>

It didn't matter how many times she'd told him that she was going to study computer science, not business or law, he just kept bringing home pamphlets. This wasn't the first time they'd argued about it; oh no. Mr. Sato was determined that his only daughter would either go into business like himself, or into law like his brother. But it was the first time that Tosh lost her temper with her father, raising her voice to shout at him to get out her room.

Tosh felt a little guilty afterward, her father meant well, but he just didn't get it. She didn't want to be a lawyer or a go into corporate business. It had been her dream since middle school to work with computers, maybe programming games or developing new software. She had her own dreams and she was determined to make them reality.

**TBC**


	16. Practice Makes Perfect pt 1

**AN: Sorry for the shortness/choppiness of this part, when I was writing chapter 12 it just kept getting longer and longer and I needed to break it into sections-this seemed like the best place. This is part one of four so yeah, sorry for the weirdness.  
><strong>

**Practice Makes Perfect pt. 1**

Ianto dry swallowed two paracetamol as he waited for his coffee to finish brewing. His shoulders ached badly but his neck had already healed to a thin scab with only a little bruising around the edges from the impact of the broken plate. If he kept his school shirt buttoned all the way and his tie on, no one would notice—he hoped.

After getting stoned he'd slept like a log. It was lucky he'd set his alarm to go off a little early, giving him time to finish the last of his homework and move his furniture back into place. Unsurprisingly his tad was gone by the time he got up, probably hit the first open Pub or went to one of his mate's houses. It was always easier when he was gone; no awkward, tension filled silences or mumbled apologies.

Grimacing as he settled his school bag on his shoulders Ianto grabbed his travel mug and hefted his viola; glancing around the kitchen to double check he wasn't forgetting anything. Satisfied, he headed out locking the front door behind him. Tosh was waiting for him on the sidewalk in front of his house, a troubled look on her face.

Drawing on his reserves, Ianto plastered a contented look across his face and went to greet his friend, hoping that he wasn't the cause for her worries.

* * *

><p>Spinning round in circles as he frantically searched for his misplaced electronic tuner in the kitchen—the last place he remembered seeing it, don't ask him why—Jack checked his watch and groaned; if he didn't leave in the next five minutes he wouldn't have time to talk with Ianto before school, and he'd probably end up walking alone. Ianto, Lisa and Tosh would wait as long as they could without being tardy, and Owen wouldn't wait at all…damn he needed to find that stupid tuner.<p>

Deciding the check the fridge one more time—again, don't ask him why—Jack crowed in delight when he spotted the errant tuner on top of the toaster.

"Finally!"

He cried, grabbing his backpack and violin. Checking once more that he had his student ID and lunch money Jack practically ran out the front door—he had to run back to lock it—in his eagerness to see Ianto again.

* * *

><p>Idly watching Tosh and Lisa as they talked animatedly back and forth Owen was leaning against a signal light waiting for Jack when Ianto slid up beside him. Glancing at the younger boy from the corner of his eye, Owen hid a smirk as Ianto awkwardly cleared his throat.<p>

"Owen."

"Ianto."

There was a moment of loaded silence as they eyed each other up. Clearing his throat again and feeling self conscious of his bruised neck beneath the starched collar of his uniform shirt, Ianto spoke again,

"Have anything?"

Owen shrugged nonchalantly,

"Can get some".

Ianto nodded pensively and replied,

"I can do ten".

"I'll have it by the end of school today. Don't look now but here comes lover boy."

* * *

><p>All in all Gwen's day had actually gone by pretty quickly; she'd even had a substitute in history and they'd watched a movie the whole period, but Gwen was anxious for the final bell to ring. Lunch that day had seemed particularly long as Jack had disappeared again and then he'd been late to their maths class so she couldn't sit by him, Rhys took the seat next to hers. The highlight of Gwen's day had definitely been that morning in music class.<p>

Even though it wasn't always fun waking up extra early, Gwen was generally happy about being in the advanced music program. She'd played cello for the last few years and she really enjoyed it, her mother said it would set her apart from all the other girls who played violin and viola or piano, and it did. Gwen was proud of her accomplishments. The first seating test was tomorrow but she wasn't worried.

Gwen was easily the best cellist in class, she'd heard that Suzie Costello who'd transferred out halfway through last term had been better, but she wasn't here now was she? The only real competition Gwen would face for first chair was Andy, but he was too unsure of himself to be a real threat. It helped that he had a crush on her; Gwen knew how to use that to her advantage.

Most girls her age had trouble with a single boy, but Gwen was an expert at juggling; she was fooling around with Owen and flirting with both Rhys and Andy, but her sights were set on Jack. Like her, he was the best in his section; it had to be fate that drew them together. Oh sure, John Hart was a good violinist, but he lacked focus and he didn't follow direction well enough to be section leader. Not like Jack and her, together they would lead the Chamber group to victory at the competition at the end of term.

After trying to gain Jack's attention several times during warm up and failing, Gwen's luck finally changed when Ms. Noble announced they'd be working in pairs again. Of course, Gwen manipulated the count so she was working with Jack; as the class' two best musicians it was only right that they worked together. The handsome boy had seemed distant at first but 5 minutes into their practice he's warmed up and they were joking and laughing like they usually did.

Gwen had been planning to steal Jack away during lunch to finalize their plans to go sightseeing together but he'd never showed up and when she'd asked where he was Tosh had given her a scathing look saying,

"Do you really not know?"

Of course Gwen _didn't_ know, but at the end of lunch when she realized that Ianto was missing as well she figured the younger boy had monopolized Jack's attention again. Probably off crying somewhere because everybody picks on him for being so weird, and Jack being the wonderful, caring friend that he is, stayed to comfort him. 'That must be it.' She thought with finality.

She impatiently tapped her expertly painted fingernails against the desk as she counted down the last minute of school, Ms. Noble was always telling her she needed to cut them but Gwen didn't care, she liked her nails to look nice. With thirty seconds to go she quietly began to pack up her stuff, sliding her unused notebook and pen back into her bag she zipped it up slowly, hoping the thwack of the zip in the quiet room wasn't too loud, and slid to the front of her seat.

The moment the bell rang Gwen was out of her seat, missing what the teacher said about their reading assignment, it didn't matter, she'd just ask Andy about it later, and hurried to her locker. Jack and the others were coming over to hers today and she couldn't be more excited. Her mam said Jack could stay for tea so after everyone else had left she'd have him all to herself.

**TBC**

**AN2: I kinda feel like my style of writing keeps switching, anyone noticed or have a comment on that? Reviews are love =)**


	17. Practice Makes Perfect pt 2

**Practice Makes Perfect pt. 2**

Owen, Toshiko, Lisa, Jack, Ianto and Andy trailed after Gwen as they trouped to her house for their practice session. Rhys couldn't make it because his mam had scheduled a last minute dentist appointment, but the others had all agreed to come, some more reluctantly than others—Andy and Owen were the only ones who were really excited about it.

Gwen led the group up the drive of her moderately sized home and made of keying in the code to open the garage door. They followed her inside and collectively sighed in relief when she instructed them to put their instruments and backpacks on the large, aged couch, glad to get the burdens off their backs. Smiling she conscripted Jack to help her bring some chairs out from the kitchen, hollering to her mam that she and her friends were here, leaving the rest of her guests to mill about the mostly empty garage.

As soon as Jack and Gwen had left Owen sprawled across the only space on the sofa, grinning cheekily at the girls' put out looks. Andy hovered nervously between the couch and the door to the house, wondering if he should go and help with the chairs, while Ianto and Tosh made themselves comfortable on the ground. Both grunted in surprise when Lisa sprawled across both their laps. She wasn't heavy, but it still came as a surprise and it wasn't long before the trio descended into a fit of giggles.

Andy threw Ianto a slightly envious look, poofter or not, it wasn't fair how all the girls crowded around him—worst part was he probably didn't even notice. Not like Jack, Jack reeled them in and held their attention with his crazy stories. Between the two of them a bloke like himself didn't stand a chance.

Inside her tastefully decorated home, Gwen eagerly introduced Jack to her mother, smiling when he shook her hand politely, addressing her as Mrs. Cooper. As he went to grab two of the indicated chairs, Gwen and her mam shared a look; this one was definitely a keeper. Jack failed to notice the exchange and was already heading back toward the garage, eager to get back to Ianto hopefully start practicing soon, forcing Gwen to rush to grab two more chairs and follow him out.

Ever the gentlemen, Jack made the final trip inside to get two more chairs from the Cooper's kitchen, while Gwen directed the others in setting up. They arranged the chairs in a loose circle, leaving space for Owen to be included from his place on the couch. Gwen manipulated the set up so she was sitting beside Owen with Jack to her other side. Tosh, Lisa and Jack had brought collapsible music stands and Gwen had one in her room so between them they had just enough to go around if they shared. Only Owen got a stand to himself as Gwen selflessly offered to let him use hers while she shared with Jack, leaving Ianto to share a stand with Lisa and Tosh sharing hers with Andy.

There was a series of clacks and thwacks as zippers and latches were undone and their instruments were brought out. Owen absently tapped at his drum pad while the others set up, attaching shoulder rests, tightening their bows, sharing rosin and getting out their sheet music.

They chatted amicably back and forth as they tuned up, enjoying practicing together without the restraints of being in class—talking during class, except during the break or small group practice was punishable by everyone holding their instrument at shoulder height for two minutes. It didn't sound difficult, especially for the violin players, but after the first sixty seconds nearly everyone felt the strain as their arms threatened to drop. Ms. Noble may be nice but she was still strict, and a damn good teacher because of it.

* * *

><p>Time passed rather quickly as they played together, focusing on the various problem areas in each piece, pulling the music from its plastic sleeves to make small notes in pencil. After about an hour of diligent practice they agreed to take a break. Gwen went inside to ask her mam for a snack and some drinks for her friends, showing Lisa and Andy where the bathroom was along the way. While they were inside Owen pulled himself up from the couch and moved over toward the small TV set up in the corner. Flipping it on, he then routed around behind the couch until he found a plastic crate and brought it out.<p>

Inside were four controllers and several game cases. Moving back to the TV he opened the door of the cabinet it was resting on and turned on the X-box, hooking up the controllers and selecting a racing game. Jack and Ianto shared a curious look; how did Owen know where everything was at Gwen's house? Ianto threw a cautious glance at Tosh but the shorter girl was absorbed with her cell phone, and hadn't noticed Owens' familiarity with Gwen's house—or her garage anyway.

* * *

><p>By the time Gwen got back, Andy and Lisa in tow with a large bowl of crisps and several cans of pop, the four of them had started a game. A bit put out that Jack's attention was diverted by a video game, Gwen huffed in annoyance and announced that the snacks had arrived. Owen paused the game and they eagerly set upon the food. The hungry teens were contentedly munching away when Mrs. Cooper came out with a plate of rice crispies and some water.<p>

Gwen introduced them all and they politely thanked Mrs. Cooper for the food before she bustled back inside saying something about not wanting to miss the news broadcast.

Anxious to continue the game, he' been winning; Owen crammed two rice crispies in his mouth, washed it down with a gulp of his cola and gestured to the game. In the spirit of fairness they decided that they would finish the game they had going and then the winner would get to play again but the losers would switch out giving them all a turn.

Much to Owens surprise it was Tosh who won the first game and he, Jack and Ianto were forced to switch out to allow Lisa, Andy and Gwen a turn. Andy won the next round and they continued the cycle. After losing the second race in a row Ianto excused himself to use the restroom. He felt a bit odd being inside Gwen's home; he didn't much like the girl and he was sure she didn't care for him. It was average sized for the neighborhood but elegantly decorated with rich fabrics and soft neutral colors.

There were a lot of very beautiful things; paintings, vases and figurines—almost too many, like they were used to being more spread out. Gwen had never said why they moved, and he'd never asked but Ianto would bet money they used to live in a much larger house. Following Lisa's instructions Ianto headed to the bathroom, relieving himself quickly and washing his hands before he pulled a small bottle from his trouser pocket and downed two more paracetamol with water from the tap. All that practicing had made his shoulders and arms ache.

Glancing at his watch he smiled in relief when he noted the time; 5:15, if his tad followed the usual pattern after a night like they'd had yesterday, he'd stay an extra shift and then go out drinking into the wee hours to avoid coming home—if he made it home at all. Which meant that he and Jack would have some time to spare after they finally left Gwen's, which he figured would have to be soon since Mrs. Cooper struck him as the type to have tea all laid out by the time Mr. Cooper got home from work. With a deep breath Ianto slowly rolled his shoulders, grimacing as he worked out the kinks and slipping on a bland mask headed back to the garage and his friends.

**TBC**

plz R&R


	18. Practice Makes Perfect pt 3

**Practice Makes Perfect pt. 3**

Stepping back into the garage the first thing Ianto noticed was that they were about to continue the next game without him. The second thing he noticed was that not only had Gwen taken his spot in the rotation, she'd taken the seat next to Jack and had scooted it even closer. Jack turned his head when he heard the garage door click shut and offered Ianto an apologetic look. He didn't want to let Gwen take Ianto's spot, but it was her house and he didn't want to upset her either.

Gwen followed Jack's gaze and smiled sweetly at Ianto,

"Oh Ianto, I hope you don't mind but I didn't know when you would get back".

Ianto shrugged,

"No it's fine Gwen, I'll just play next round".

Gwen beamed but Jack was frowning, that wasn't really fair, but again—Gwen's house… His frown morphed into a smile as he got an idea.

"Hey Ianto come here, you can play with me."

Ianto and Gwen shot him equally confused looks but Jack just grinned and gestured for Ianto come closer. As soon as the younger boy came within reach Jack grabbed his wrist and tugged him down onto his lap. Reaching both arms around Ianto's slim waist he rested his hands and controller on the other boys' thighs.

Not able to hold back a slight blush at Jack's forwardness and PDA Ianto cleared his throat awkwardly.

"Erm, how exactly is this playing _with_ you?"

He inquired, blushing even darker when he realized what he'd said. Jack shrugged, for once ignoring the unplanned double meaning of Ianto's words, and squeezed him in a firm hug.

"It's not really; I just wanted to hold you."

Ianto was certain that if he blushed any darker he'd collapse from sudden rush of blood to the brain, thankfully Tosh started the game and everyone's focus shifted back to the TV screen. As the players began their second lap around the track Ianto was just starting to feel normal again when he felt something press against his backside.

_Was that…? No way, really?_

_Jack had a hardon… _

Grinning evilly for a moment before schooling his face back to a more neutral expression in case anyone was watching Ianto shifted subtly, and was rewarded by a hot breath against his neck and low moan from the boy beneath him. Turning his head a little to the side Ianto whispered,

"Payback's a bitch Jack".

Jack didn't reply as he struggled to control his car and pass Toshiko on a sharp turn, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all; a lapful of Ianto wasn't great for concentration. Ianto shifted on his lap again and Jack grit his teeth until his jaw ached to keep from moaning at the sensation. This was definitely not what he'd thought would happen; it wasn't his fault he got hard, it was just a physiological reaction to having Ianto on his lap. If anything, it was entirely Ianto's fault for being so damn cute and sexy.

Smiling as he felt Jack twitch beneath him, Ianto casually started jiggling his leg. The constant jarring of Ianto's arse against his more sensitive areas had Jack biting his tongue as he desperately tried to concentrate on the video game. Just three more turns and the race would be over, he had to focus. Unfortunately for him Ianto was as devious as he was intelligent, a dazzling but dangerous combination. In the end Jack was lucky he crossed the finish line in one piece, forget about winning. Ianto was just too distracting.

* * *

><p>Even though she won Gwen was pouting. When Ianto had gone to the bathroom she'd quickly taken his spot, hoping to catch Jack's attention and send the pale, strange boy the message to back off. He and Jack had been too chummy lately in her opinion. How was she supposed to let Jack know she was interested in him when Ianto wouldn't give them even two seconds alone?<p>

She had been getting ready to suggest they do something else, something that would get her close to Jack, when her mam came into the garage and reminded her that her tad would be home soon and it would be time for tea. In other words, it was time for her friends to leave. Another round of heartfelt "thanks" followed Mrs. Cooper back inside and she smiled.

_Such polite young people._

Moving here had definitely been for the better, she hadn't much cared for Gwen's old friends who scattered like cockroaches whenever she poked her head in to check on them. Bad influences the lot of them.

Gwen smiled politely as her guests packed their stuff up to leave but inwardly she was fuming. Her mam had _the worst_ timing ever! Jack and Ianto were almost ready to leave, standing close together by the door and Gwen hadn't gotten the chance to ask Jack to stay to tea yet. She panicked for a brief moment before she formulated a quick plan, smiling genuinely again Gwen asked Jack if he would help her take the chairs back inside.

He didn't want to, oh god he did not want to, what he wanted was to take Ianto and get the hell out of there as fast as possible so he could shove his teasing boyfriend up against the closest thing and ravish him. But he did, because it was the gentlemanly thing to do and Aunt Rose had taught him to be a gentleman as well as a good guest.

"Sure Gwen, Ianto will help too so it goes faster."

Ianto threw him a mild glare, not entirely happy with being volunteered, but if it got them out here faster…

Barely managing to throw up her hands in frustration and Gwen's smile turned forced once again as she grabbed a chair and waited for them to follow her, each holding two chairs leaving only one in the garage. This was not going to work. As no other options presented themselves Gwen decided to go for it.

"Hey Jack, I know it's a bit last minute but I was hoping you would stay for tea. My tad would really like to meet you."

Both Jack and Ianto froze, turning to look at her oddly.

"Er sorry Gwen, but I've got plans. With Ianto."

The last was said with an added emphasis as he gestured to his boyfriend. Gwen blinked and shifted her gaze from Jack to Ianto, confusion evident on her lightly freckled face. Her jaw went slack as she floundered for an explanation; she had never expected Jack to say no like that, especially not so he could spend more time with _Ianto_ of all people. He was so pale and quiet and weird, and annoying; always tagging along after Jack like a little brother.

"Well I ju—I just thought you'd like to meet my father…"

Gwen trailed off slowly, her mind spinning furiously and she struggled to comprehend the situation. When asked for a reason, it started to seem very silly that she'd expected Jack to want to meet her tad. Not all boys were like that after all, but still, Jack was always acting so gentlemanly around her that she'd figured he'd be the type to want to meet the folks.

"Not to be rude Gwen, but why would I want to meet you father? I mean that's just kinda weird."

Eyes impossibly wide as she interpreted the situation, Gwen realized she had been right; Jack wasn't the type to introduce to the folks. She'd always known he had a darker side to him, a hidden rebellious streak—how romantic.

Her laugh sounded forced to her own ears and she couldn't imagine how fake it sounded to Jack but she needed to cover up the awkward silence somehow.

"Right Jack, that is a bit weird. Well I'll see you tomorrow."

Face heated uncomfortably from embarrassment Gwen spun quickly and disappeared down the hallway, leaving the boys abandoned just outside the kitchen. Jack and Ianto exchanged amused looks and shrugged, heading out to the garage to grab their stuff so they could finally leave.

**TBC **


	19. Practice Makes Perfect pt 4

**Practice Makes Perfect pt. 4**

Hands clasped firmly together Jack and Ianto walked slowly down the sidewalk alongside of Tosh. Lisa and Andy where going to his to finish their Biology project and Owen had taken off as soon as they left Gwen's, he was upset about something but nobody was quite sure what. It was just the three of them and as they came to the corner where they would go their separate ways they paused. The boys had already decided they would go to Jack's house for a bit. Ianto was certain his tad wouldn't be home until much later, and even if he did get home Ianto was willing to face the consequences if it meant more time alone with Jack.

Tosh smiled shyly as she shifted her weight from one foot to another and peered at Ianto through the gap between her bangs and the top of her glasses.

"Well, I guess I'll be going then… I should probably study for the maths test anyway."

Feeling bad for deserting his best friend Ianto was quick to invite her along.

"You could hang out with us for a bit. Jack's got a new game and it's really cool."

As he spoke Ianto sent Jack a pleading look and the older boy came back with a slightly forced smile,

"Yeah Tosh, it would be great I haven't gotten to try it on three player yet".

Unable to stop herself, Tosh grinned and laughed whole-heartedly.

"Oh my god Jack, you should see your face! I'll leave you two boys to it; don't think I didn't notice you getting a little 'happy' while we were playing videogames. I don't think I've ever seen either of you so red in the face."

Jack grinned broadly while beside him Ianto was vigilantly trying to disprove Tosh' observation by blushing even darker than before.

_Damn, I'd hoped she didn't notice. _

He thought miserably and gave her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry Tosh."

Still laughing Tosh waved him off and calling goodbye over her shoulder, disappeared around the corner, leaving them alone at last.

* * *

><p>Following Jack inside his house, Ianto paused to step out of his shoes and Jack pounced. Pressing the younger boy against the wall Jack took his mouth in a searing kiss, lips melting together as their tongues collided messily. Ianto gave into the kiss, body molding against Jacks as he pressed closer, gripping his shoulders tighter. Jack slid his hands down Ianto's waist to rest on his hips before following the curve of the smaller boy's arse and lifting. Clinging to Jack with his legs and arms, one shoe dangling precariously from his hanging foot, Ianto moaned and broke from the kiss panting for air.<p>

Trailing kisses down Ianto's jaw, Jack sucked gently on his neck, bringing his hand up to move Ianto's collar out of his way, undoing the top button as he went. His fingers brushed against something rough and Jack pulled back far enough to see the jagged scab skating across Ianto's collarbone. Readjusting the now loosened collar even more Jack was able to peer down the back of his shirt to see the bruises dotted across Ianto's shoulders.

Shifting impatiently against the older boy Ianto realized with surprise that the hardness he'd felt in Jack's pants moments ago had lessened considerably before disappearing completely.

"What's wrong?"

He asked voice breathy and high, eyes slightly unfocused and hair well and truly mussed. Jack wished for a moment that he could ignore the bruises and marks and get back to kissing Ianto senseless, but the thought disappeared as quickly as it had formed and he stepped back, allowing the confused boy's body to slide to the floor.

"Jack?"

Ianto asked fearfully, wondering if he'd done something wrong.

"I'm fine Ianto; it's just—are you ok?"

Stiffening at the question Ianto leaned away from Jack, pressing himself farther against the wall.

"Fine. Why?"

Closing his eyes briefly Jack sighed in resignation, reaching slowly for Ianto's collar, moving it out of the way and leaving the healing cut and bruises clearly visible.

"What's this then?"

Fumbling to re-button his shirt Ianto slid sideways and backed away, reaching for his other shoe and backpack as he went.

"I should get home, paper to write and—"

"Damnit Ianto, why won't you just talk to me?"

Jack huffed, stepping into the other boy's personal space. Eyebrows furrowing in anger Ianto shoved him away with a firm push to the chest.

"Fuck off Jack! It's none of your business anyway."

Growling low in his throat Jack darted around Ianto so he was blocking the door.

"What's none of my business? That you have bruises all over your body? That someone is hurting you? Please, Ianto, talk to me. Please?"

Ianto eyed him warily, calculating his chances of getting past Jack to the door; slim to none. His shoulders slumped in defeat when he realized escape was impossible.

For the last couple of days—weeks really, Ianto had felt the unasked questions building up between them. A wall of secrets and lies. He hated it, hated all of it, but he loved it too. The secrets made him feel safe; the lies gave him the allusion of power in his ultimately powerless situation. He wasn't ready to let that go but if he didn't, if he didn't tell him the truth, Jack would leave.

On the surface it was simple, tell Jack the truth. But it wasn't that easy, nothing's ever that easy. Ianto had never told anyone before, not even Tosh or his sister Rhiannon, not even when they'd asked. He'd let his silence speak for him knowing that without him actually saying it, there was nothing they could do. Sometimes he just wished they'd do something anyway. They knew—they had to know, he shouldn't have to tell them. But he did, and he wouldn't, and where did that leave him.

If he told Jack now, there'd be no going back. He'd know and then he'd ask more questions, questions Ianto didn't want to answer. Wrapping his arms around his waist Ianto looked away, at the floor, the wall, anywhere but Jack's earnest expression.

"What—er what do you want to know?"

Jack took a small step closer, wary of scaring Ianto away now that he'd finally gotten this close.

"Who?"

Ianto glared at him for a moment.

"Who do you think Jack?"

Biting back his impatience Jack stepped closer,

"I want to hear you say it".

There was a long moment of silence that stretched thinly as Ianto finally looked him in the eye, whispering,

"My tad".

Swallowing around the lump in his chest Jack pressed forward,

"How long?"

Ianto shrugged, turning away again and answered quietly,

"Since mam…"

Closing his eyes as he felt his heart break Jack pulled the smaller boy into a loose embrace. Ianto's mam died when he was nine, which meant that for five years…

"Fuck Ianto, why didn't you say something, why didn't Rhiannon do something?"

"She doesn't know."

It was whispered against his chest so quietly Jack almost missed it.

"What do you mean she doesn't know? How can she not know?"

"I've never told her ok? Just you."

The impact of Ianto's quiet words hit Jack like a train; Ianto had never told anyone this but him. He trusted Jack with his darkest secret and Jack was determined to live up to that. He had to make this right.

"Can we sit down or something please?"

Ianto's voice, a little steadier now, brought Jack back from his thoughts and he smiled briefly, leading him to the sofa and going to the kitchen to get a glass of water. Coming back with the water Jack sat next to Ianto on the couch opening his arms and smiling when the younger boy practically climbed into his lap. Hugging him lightly, mindful of the bruises on his back and shoulders, Jack rocked him slowly for a moment or two plotting his dark revenge against Mr. Jones in his mind.

"Stop it."

Ianto said suddenly, making Jack pause his rocking.

"Stop rocking?"

Chuckling weakly Ianto shook his head no,

"Stop plotting revenge. I can hear the gears turning in your head."

Jack flushed a little at being caught and hugged his boyfriend tighter.

"I can't it help it, I just want to make it better—I feel so helpless, I want to hurt him for hurting you and I—"

Ianto cut him off with a brief kiss to his lips.

"That's very noble of you Jack, but he's my father. I can't let you do anything to him, besides it would just make it worse."

"Worse? How bad has it gotten Ianto? And how can you expect me to just sit here when he's hurting you?"

"This is why I never wanted to talk about it Jack! There's nothing you _can _do, nothing I can do—"

"We could tell the school or call the police."

Jack interrupted hotly. No way was he going to just let Ianto's tad just beat him.

"And they would put me into care and I might not ever see you again! My tad would probably lose his job—not that he's all that great at keeping them now, but what he does make, and I manage to save, helps Rhiannon with school."

"But Ianto—"

"No Jack. This isn't just about me, don't you see? It affects everyone! Really it's not so bad, besides we graduate this year and I can get a job and leave. Promise me you won't say anything. Promise me, Jack."

Biting his lip Jack warred with his indecision. If he promised not to say anything Ianto would keep getting hurt, but if he didn't promise and he told someone Ianto might not ever speak to him again. Sighing heavily he reluctantly gave his answer,

"Fine, but it has to stop Ianto. I mean it. You know you can always come here right? Anytime day or night, doesn't matter."

Ianto nodded, chin resting on Jack's shoulder,

"Yep, can we talk about something else please?"

Jack frowned but nodded, he'd let it go for now if that's what Ianto wanted, but the next time he showed up with new bruises it was going to be an issue.

**TBC**

**AN: So Ianto finally told Jack, what do you all think of his reaction? Good? Bad? Bleh? Let me know. **

**As added incentive to review I'll be writing some smutty boylovin' for when I get 100 reviews ;)  
><strong>


	20. Chapter 13

**THIS CHAPTER IS RATED M.  
><span>EXPLICIT<span> UNDERAGE SEXIN'- don't like, don't read **

**AN: Sorry for the delay everyone, I've been getting ready to move and the stress was like a 40ft wall of writer's block. Boy lovin' makes up for long wait?**

**Chapter 13:**

Jack wasn't sure how they got here, kissing on his unmade bed, from cuddling on the couch after Ianto's forced confession. He had absolutely no clue when the comforting touches had become less innocent, or when they'd gotten up from the sofa, but he didn't care. The only thing he was concerned with currently was getting Ianto's belt unbuckled in the first of many wonderful steps to naked-Ianto-time.

Stopping to let Ianto drag his white t-shirt off over his head, Jack found himself suddenly grateful that his uncle was gone all the time, imagining the doctor walking in on them now was almost enough to make Jack lose interest before he reeled his thoughts back in. Ianto moved his nimble fingers to work Jack's trousers open and Jack reached down to unbutton the younger boy's school shirt, biting his lip when he again saw the bruises and scabbed over cut. He was about to say something but then Ianto was kissing him and words seemed ridiculously out of his league.

Ianto had a good idea of what Jack had been about to say and decided to keep the other boy's mouth otherwise occupied with his tongue. Jack wasn't the first person he'd kissed, and contrary to popular belief he had kissed more people than just Lisa—a few anyway, but Jack was definitely the best kisser he'd ever had the pleasure of exchanging saliva with. A part of him wondered where and from whom Jack had learned to kiss so well, but he pushed back the flare of jealousy, placating himself that it was neither here nor now.

His skin felt too tight, he could feel his cheeks heating up as their kisses and groping escalated. Jack's skin was tan and smooth beneath his clothes and despite their age difference Ianto thought he might have more body hair than his boyfriend. It was a slightly disturbing thought, one that quickly fled his mind when Jack's tongue slid down his exposed chest, his hot mouth latching firmly onto one of Ianto's nipples. Gasping at the sensation Ianto gripped the older boy's short brown hair, pulling the American closer.

Trailing a line of wet kisses down Ianto's chest to his bellybutton and back up to suck on his neck, Jack whispered hotly into his ear, "What do you want?"

Shuddering at the gust of air directly in his ear Ianto stammered, "Anything. Whatever you want."

Jack smile turned predatory and in a sudden move he threw his leg over Ianto's waist, straddling the younger boy and effectively pinning him to the mattress. Their hips slotted together like cogs of an antique pocket watch—perfectly. The only thing separating them now was their boxers, but Jack could feel the heat from Ianto's groin and groaned loudly at the sensation.

Ianto knew his face was beyond red with the excitement of being so nearly naked with Jack. He spared a moment to ponder how that was possible when he sure most of the blood in his body had traveled to a more southern location several minutes ago. But before he could puzzle it out Jack's hand was _there. _Slipping past the elastic waist of his boxers and teasing the small plane of skin just above—oh god!

Wrapping his hand around the base of Ianto's cock, Jack took a moment to enjoy the feel of it. It was a nice size—nearly the same as his own despite the age difference, hot as fire and smooth as silk. He trailed his fingers around to the tip, gently exploring the younger boy's foreskin. Being cut himself, he had limited experience with the extra skin and found it exotic. With two firm strokes, he'd pushed the foreskin back, exposing the leaking tip of Ianto's erection.

Moaning heavily, and squeezing his eyes shut as Jack manipulated his cock, Ianto forced himself to take deep breaths, focusing on _not _coming in his shorts. He'd gotten the odd handjob before, but nothing like this. Jack was playing him like he played his violin—expertly. Not wanting to be a passive participant, Ianto snaked his hand into Jack's shorts, brushing his fingers over the wiry hair before reaching lower to wrap around his cock. A jolt travelled up his arm at the intimate contact and he _had _to kiss the other boy.

Jack gasped when Ianto's fingers wrapped around him, warm with just the right amount of pressure. The gasp turned to a moan when the younger boy reached up, his free hand tangling in Jack's short hair to pull him closer until their lips were meeting in a hungry kiss. Wet and hot and oh, so good. To be honest, he'd expected Ianto be more of a blushing virgin. He'd gotten the blushing right—but Ianto was proving himself to be far from virginal.

Bringing his hand back down to sit on Jack's hip, Ianto hooked his fingers in the waist band of the other boy's boxers, sliding them slowly down his body. Above him, Jack bucked when the elastic caught on the head of his erection, the rough cotton agonizing on his overly sensitive skin. He pulled his hand from Ianto's shorts to help get rid of his own, kicking them off his legs and kneeling on the bed to help Ianto remove his.

After some shuffling they were both fully naked, each taking a moment or two to admire the other in the light of Jack's bedroom. The air between them was crackling with energy and unspent lust until suddenly they were on each other like animals. Rolling his hips experimentally, Jack grinned as Ianto's breath caught noisily in his throat. Grabbing one of the Welsh boy's milk-while thighs and holding it in place on his hip, Jack latched onto Ianto's neck determined to give him the love-bite to end all love-bites.

Picking up on Jack's intention, Ianto wrapped both legs around his boyfriend's waist, panting loudly as their cocks brushed together in the slick slide of their combined precum. He brought one hand down to grip them both tightly, smiling when the other boy hissed. The other migrated until it was clasping Jack's well formed arse.

One of Jack's hands joined Ianto's around both their cocks, while the other wrapped around the small of Ianto's back, pulling him closer—changing the angle until they were aligned perfectly. God, they fit together like puzzle pieces. Rolling his hips in counterpoint to the movement of their hands, Jack smiled when Ianto picked up on his rhythm—meeting him stroke for stroke. Ianto's breath was loud in his ear and forcing himself to abandon the all too tempting skin of the other boy's neck where a new bruise was joining the old; Jack fought back a pang of guilt and took Ianto's mouth in an earth-shattering kiss.

He felt Ianto stiffen beneath him moments before a warm splatter of come hit his stomach. It was enough to set his own climax into action as Jack spilled himself over both their hands. Collapsing on top of Ianto, Jack took a moment to catch his breath, willing his heartbeat to return to normal before attempting to roll off the smaller boy in fear of crushing him.

Ianto wasn't having any of it though, and he wrapped his arms around Jack's neck to keep in place, sighing quietly when Jack relaxed against him. With their bare chests pressed together Ianto could feel Jack's heart racing, its frantic beat a match for his own as their shallow breaths gradually evened back out. Their sweat and cum was rapidly cooling between their overheated bodies but Ianto couldn't bring himself to care about the mess. He was content to lay here with Jack. Ianto had never felt as alive as he had just minutes ago, moving in cadence with Jack, the heat of their bodies building up pressure until it burst in a wave of ecstasy.

Sliding off marginally to lie beside him, Jack hesitantly fingered the new bruise on Ianto's neck. Remorse was painted across his expressive face but Ianto was determined not to let him feel guilty. Grabbing Jack's fingers as they traced the love-bite, Ianto brought them to his mouth, pressing a gentle kiss across the knuckles. Jack relaxed again next him, but his eyes were still a little sad—Ianto couldn't bear to see it so he tucked his head under Jack's dimpled chin, cuddling tight up against his body. He hoped to convey without words what he felt, and when Jack hugged him back, pressing a kiss to his damp hair, Ianto figured his message had gotten through.

TBC

**AN2: To clear things up for Esperanza, I said in the first chapter that even though he was only 14, Ianto was starting year 11 along with Tosh, Jack, Owen etc. who are all 16. Ianto was younger than them in the show and I wanted to carry that over. It's my understanding—and remember I live in the states so I could definitely be wrong—that students take the GCSE in year 11 and then move on to university if they choose. As for the discrepancy between Ianto being eight or nine when his mom died, oops. Mea culpa, I couldn't remember what I'd written before—this is where a beta reader would be wonderful. **

**Also thank you all for the wonderful reviews and suggestions! **


	21. Substitute pt 1

**AN: Sorry for the massive delay, I don't really have an excuse other than stress and laziness coupled with crazy writers block, so sincerest apologies! It's my goal to finish up all my WIPs by the end of the year… whether or not I can actually do it, I'm working on this one first because it's the farthest along and has gotten the most reviews/follows. *Pat yourselves on the back for reviewing* =P  
><strong>

**Substitute pt. 1**

By the time Jack was ready to leave for school the next morning he was wound up tighter than an antique pocket watch—the kind that Ianto had brought for show and tell in primary school, it had been his grandfather's and Ianto had carefully wrapped it in an old scarf and packed it in his lunchbox so it wouldn't get scratched or broken.

Jack had spent the better part of the night tossing and turning, unable to sleep because he was worrying about Ianto. He hated the thought of Ianto going home to his father.

After things had calmed down yesterday evening they'd ended up falling asleep for a bit and a panicked Ianto had woken up sweaty and sticky, jostling Jack out of bed as he frantically searched for his clothes. The younger boy had claimed he needed to leave right away to get home and finish some chores, something Jack hadn't been happy about in the least—he'd offered to let Ianto stay the night, but Ianto had refused saying he needed to fix tea for his dad when he got off work.

While he understood that Ianto needed to get back to keep his dad happy, there was a large part of Jack that was worried he'd scared Ianto off by letting things go too far, too fast. When he'd arrived at his usual spot, a midpoint between their houses and school, Jack sent Tosh and Lisa ahead. Rhys had taken to leaving a bit earlier to meet up with Gwen and walk with her to school—it was obvious to the rest of them that Gwen tolerated his company out of politeness, but not to the poor besotted boy. As it was Wednesday, Owen would be late if he showed up at all, so after sending the girls on, Jack would have Ianto to himself.

Glancing at his watch once again, Jack noted that Ianto was running very, very late. Biting his lip he let his mind wander as he paced the sidewalk.

_What if Ianto had taken the long way to avoid him because of last night?_

_Maybe he regretted moving so fast, or thought Jack was just interested in sex—which of course he was, sex is sex and when you're a 16 year old boy, sex is very important. But Ianto was much more than just a hot body; he was special. Not to mention Jack's best friend. _

_Oh god, what if Ianto was regretting starting a physical relationship with his best friend?_

_What if his dad had been pissed that he'd got in so late?_

_What…_

Ianto's voice, echoing across the mostly empty street jerked Jack from his depressing thoughts.

The younger boy was jogging toward him, face flushed from the crisp morning air, his viola hanging lazily from one hand while the other held a large thermos. Jack grinned. Ianto was not only ok, he was glad to see him, and most likely had brought him coffee. _Best boyfriend ever._

"Hiya Jack! Sorry I'm late, got halfway here and remembered I'd forgot my viola. Oh, I brought you coffee."

Grinning dopily, Jack pulled Ianto into a hug, trapping the smaller boy against his chest. Ianto laughed against Jack's shoulder, wiggling slightly when it became difficult to breathe as both of his arms were trapped at his sides.

"If you want your coffee you're going to have to let me go sometime Jack," Ianto chuckled, gasping exaggeratedly for air.

With one last squeeze Jack released him after pressing a lingering kiss to Ianto's lips. Although he had been reluctant to let him go, the first sip of hot coffee made up for the lack of Welshman in Jack's arms.

* * *

><p>They got to school just as the final bell rang, signifying the start of the early period. As they rounded the corner of the hallway to the music room they were surprised to see students milling about outside the classroom. The door was closed, and presumably still locked, since everyone was standing in the hall chatting anxiously.<p>

Spotting Tosh and Lisa in the corner Ianto hurried forward, calling out a hurried greeting before asking the obvious question,

"What's going on? Is Ms. Noble late?"

Lisa only shrugged, feeling self-conscious about her braces which had been tightened yesterday after school, and let Tosh explain.

"We don't know, but she's not here yet so I guess. It's not like Ms. Noble to be late though."

Jack nodded in agreement; the teacher was usually one of the earliest to arrive, even on days when they didn't have an early class period. All around him he could hear his classmates discussing possible reasons for her tardiness.

"Maybe she's sick…"

"Do you think she's ok?"

"Oh no, what if Ms. Noble was in an accident? On my way here we passed a pretty bad accident, what kind of car does she drive…"

"I heard from Spencer that Sean had seen something on the news about alien abductions in the city. Do you think that could've happened to Ms. Noble?"

The explanations and theories only got more ridiculous before the assistant principal finally showed up ten minutes later with a young man wearing an ugly-as-sin sweater-vest in tow.

"Good morning students, sorry to keep you waiting. Ms. Noble is out—just a minor illness I assure you, however you'll have a substitute today and possibly tomorrow. I expect you to treat Mr. Shaw here, with the same respect you would show Ms. Noble."

The students mumbled their agreement as Assistant Principal Mills unlocked the door, ushering them inside with an impatient glance at her watch—she was now 5 minutes late to a conference call with the school board administrator's assistant to discuss the budget for next term.

* * *

><p>Mr. Shaw knew nothing about music that much was obvious. The first thing he did after lazily scrawling his name across the white board was start up Ms. Nobel's computer and get on facebook. In Ms. Nobel's absence it was the job of the section leaders to get class started so Jack took charge, calling for 10 minutes of warm up before announcing they would jump right into the score for Pirates of the Caribbean.<p>

Because class had started so late, and since several students—most notably John Hart—had taken it upon themselves to use the teacher's absence as an excuse to goof off, they only had time to run through the score twice before it was time to pack back up. John had taken it upon himself to flirt outrageously with first Jack, and then Gwen, not even bothering to get out his violin until they were halfway through the first run through of the score.

In retrospect it's a wonder they got any work done at all. Jack was distracted by trying to ignore/avoid John (not an easy feat when said annoyance is sitting next to you), and worrying over the increasingly hostile looks Ianto was throwing at John and Gwen from across the room. After being successfully ignored by Jack, John switched his attention to Gwen. The cellist beamed under the attention, but sent all of her flirtatious banter at Jack who now had to ignore both of them. Owen was openly glaring at Jack and John, deciding to blame them both—Gwen was just a shag, but she was _his _shag at the moment, thank you very fucking much.

Rhys was glaring daggers at the back of John's head and Toshiko was furtively glancing at Owen, hurt obvious in her dark eyes as she watched him get jealous over Gwen. By the time class ended, Lisa, who'd been surveying the drama unfolding in the classroom with growing horror, was genuinely amazed that WWIII hadn't broken out with the way everyone had been glaring at everyone else.

The substitute didn't even look up from the computer when the students left for their next class, on his way out Jack noticed he had youtube up and was watching rap music videos. He hoped Ms. Noble would be back in tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Walking up to their usual table at lunch Jack realized how tired he was having spent the better part of the night worrying. Plunking himself down onto the bench seat next to Ianto, Jack let out an exaggerated groan as he rested his forehead on his boyfriend's arm.<p>

"So tired. Losing will to live…"

Ianto rolled his eyes, winking at Tosh as he reached down into his backpack to remove the thermos he'd brought to school. Grinning mischievously, Ianto dangled the thermos in front of Jack's face, moving it back and forth until the older boy cracked open an eye to follow it's movement.

"I can't believe you're taunting me with an empty thermos that used to be amazing coffee. That's low, Ianto, below the belt low."

Pulling back, Ianto huffed in mock hurt, biting his lip and making huge puppy dog eyes.

"Did you think I'd be so cruel Jack? Really? Well, if that's what you think of me, I'll just give the coffee I made before lunch in the Library to Tosh and Lis-"

The end of his sentence was cut off when Jack pulled him close, planting a sloppy kiss on his still moving lips and snagging the coffee from Ianto's suddenly lax fingers.

Breaking the kiss Jack unscrewed the top of the thermos with gusto and took a long drink, spluttering and gagging a moment later when the scalding liquid burned his tongue.

"Christ Jack! What part of 'coffee that I made a few minutes ago in the Library' didn't you hear?"

Ianto chuckled, handing his boyfriend a napkin to wipe up the coffee he'd just dribbled down his front. Jack pouted, waving his hand madly in front of his mouth in an effort to cool it down.

"I'm injured here. The least you could do is kiss it better?"

Rolling his eyes again, Ianto was distracted by Rhys' whooping laugh as he bounded up to their table, Gwen in tow. Lisa's curiosity got the best of her—It had been long enough since music class that most of the morning's animosity had disappeared, of course it helped that John had taken to eating his lunch on the other side of the yard with several cheerleaders and the better looking drama kids—and she smiled widely, forgetting for a moment to be self conscious about her braces, calling out,

"Oi Rhys! What's got you in such a good mood then?"

Rhys beamed, pulling Gwen along to stand beside him and wrapping a large arm around her slim waist.

"I finally worked up the guts to ask Gwen to go out with me and she said yes!"

Wanting to be happy and supportive of their friend, the table erupted in noisy cheers. Everyone was so caught up in the moment that the only one to notice Owens scowl and subsequent disappearing act was Ianto.

TBC

**AN2: The feedback for this story so far has been amazing! I want to thank everyone who took the time to correct my misunderstanding of the British school system. For now, the mistakes will be addressed in future chapters but I'd like to think that I'll go back and make the needed changes eventually… *cough cough* yes, eventually ;)**


	22. Substitute pt 2

**Substitute pt. 2:**

Ianto had made Jack promise to go to the computer labs after school to finish his research project, bribing him with the promise of a reward if he turned a project in early for once. So after making a quick excuse to Tosh and Lisa, Ianto went to find Owen, knowing he'd be hanging around the bus stop for at least a half-hour. Sidling up beside him, Ianto casually bumped Owen on the shoulder.

"You alright?"

Owen shoved him off,

"Fuck off. Why wouldn't I be?"

Ianto gave him _a look_ which Owen did his best to ignore only to find that he couldn't. Ianto could be downright scary when he wanted to be.

"I'm fine Ianto. It's not like I give a fuck who Gwen bloody Cooper decides to date. We were only shagging anyway."

Raising a single, skeptical eyebrow Ianto continued to stare at his friend until the other cracked a smile and landed a playful punch on Ianto's shoulder.

"It's alright _mum,_ now was that all you wanted? I'm trying to conduct business here."

Ianto grinned before shrugging almost sheepishly.

"Actually no, I wanted to see if you could do a fiver? My tad got into my stuff last night, he was bloody well happy about it so I thought I'd get him some more seeing as it put him in such a good mood."

Owen laughed, sliding his backpack off his shoulders to root around inside.

"I hear that mate, I got you."

* * *

><p>Gwen smiled dreamily as she walked home from school. She was holding hands with Rhys but her mind was on Jack. He hadn't really said much at lunch when she'd allowed Rhys to announce that they were together, but his smile had seemed almost forced and Gwen had a feeling that behind that grimace he was trying to hide his jealousy.<p>

Making Jack jealous was only part of the reason Gwen decided to give Rhys a chance, god knows he'd asked her a few times—Gwen was well aware that the first school dance was coming up, a semi-formal welcome back type affair. She had a feeling that the event would include tacky paper streamers and probably a disco ball in the school gymnasium, watered down fruit punch and some lame DJ. But still, it was the first dance of term and Gwen wanted to be sure she had a date.

Rhys was a good looking fellow, he'd certainly got nothing on Jack but he was quite cute and had broad shoulders, which Gwen liked. He was also very sweet and charming in a boyish kind of way, even if he did tend to drone on and on about rugby. Owen was a good shag, but he was much to caustic and generally unimpressed with life for Gwen's tastes.

There was no way she was going to take the chance on not being able to win Jack over in time for the dance, and having to go without a date.

Gwen was pulled from her musings when Rhys stopped, the gentle pressure of his hand against hers made her look up to see they were standing in front of her house. Feeling brave, Rhys leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to Gwen's cheek, blushing as he pulled away.

Smiling widely, Rhys took a step back, waving merrily before he turned and ambled off toward his own house three streets over.

Stunned, Gwen stood on the grass by her house for a moment watching him walk away before bringing her fingers up to hover over the spot he had kissed. No one had ever kissed Gwen on the cheek before. It was usually on the neck, behind her ear or of course—on her lips. Warmth spread across her face and Gwen realized she was blushing.

With a smile on her face, she turned, practically skipping up to her front door.

* * *

><p>Ianto hummed quietly to himself as he unlocked his front door, slipping off his shoes, he was about to start up the stairs to put his stuff away when he noticed it. The small table that usually housed a stack of mail—bills mostly—until Ianto could find the time to go through them, was overturned. Several torn envelopes and the debris of several letters littered the floor by the living room.<p>

Following the trail, Ianto stepped into the living room and stopped dead. His father was sitting in his favorite chair, a million year old recliner with broken springs in the seat and beer stains that Ianto hadn't been able to scrub out; lazily flipping an envelope Ianto knew was postmarked from Rhiannon's school in his fingers. Several empty beer bottles were scattered around the chair, though those could have been left over from the night before, what really worried Ianto was the empty bottle of whisky and the one that was half full, sitting on the coffee table.

His tad looked up, pinning him with a red rimmed, watery blue gaze.

"Oh hello Ianto, nice of you to come home. I lost my job today, came home and went through the mail. Do you know what I found? Of course you do though, don't you? Tell me Ianto, why has your sister been sending you money in her letters from school and why is this the first I'm hearing about it?"

Ianto swallowed, his throat had suddenly gone dry, and took a half a step backwards.

"I- I don't. It's not—."

The rest of his sentence was lost as Ieuan moved at a speed Ianto didn't realize his tad was capable of, lunging forward to grab Ianto by the collar of his coat. Ianto froze. Things had been going so well the last couple of days, he'd let himself believe that things would be better. God, how could he have been so stupid?

When his father spoke, he was so close to Ianto's face that Ianto could smell the whisky on his breath. A fleck of spit landed on his cheek and Ianto flinched.

* * *

><p>It was well into the wee hours of the morning when Ianto managed to finally drag himself upstairs to collapse in his bed. His tad had decided that to make up for the money he'd been "stealing" Ianto would pay him back by cleaning the downstairs top to bottom. Normally cleaning was a task Ianto enjoyed, but with his tad hovering over him, yelling obscenities and making him redo the same thing over and over it had been horrible. On top of that, he hurt everywhere.<p>

His ribs felt like there were on fire, with every breath that he took; Ianto gained a new understanding of pain. Nothing was broken, probably, but they were bruised to high hell. His shoulders were also one massive bruise, and Ianto was dreading wearing a backpack all day at school.

Deciding it would be worse to get a few hours sleep than none at all by this point, Ianto carefully propped himself up in bed and rooted around in his backpack. With fumbling hands he found the small sack he'd got off Owen what felt like a million years ago after school and rolled a joint with the papers he kept tucked in his notebook. He didn't even bother to open his window before lighting it. It wasn't until the pain had substantially faded that he climbed off his bed to survey the damage in the mirror behind his dresser.

As he'd suspected his shoulders were one large bruise, with several more forming all along his rib cage where his tad had kicked him. _Fuck. _Ianto would have to think a very good excuse for why he couldn't see Jack after school today. He couldn't take the chance that Jack would see the bruises.

TBC


	23. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15:**

Jack trudged home alone, wondering what he'd done that had Ianto avoiding him all day long. They'd walked to school together with the rest of the group, but everyone had seemed tired, Owens especially snarky attitude was making morning conversation tedious so they mostly avoided it. Ms. Noble was back, which was a relief, but also meant that he and Ianto hadn't been able to talk during music class. They hadn't even been able to pass notes during Maths because they were assigned group projects and ended up sitting on opposite ends of the class room.

At lunch Ianto and Lisa had been frantically studying for their history test next period and the rest of the table had been roped into a conversation with Owen who announced he was having a party this weekend. His mum was going away with her boyfriend for mini holiday and he'd have the flat to himself. It would be the first party of the term, and Owens parties were notorious for having beer, booze and bud. Jack had been to a few of them in the past, it was always fun, Owen never invited too many people so whoever showed up would have a few drinks and watch movies or play video games or whatever. Pretty low key in spite of the alcohol, and Jack was looking forward to going _with _Ianto this time. If he ever got the chance to ask him that is.

He wouldn't exactly say that Ianto had been going out of his way to avoid Jack all day, just that he wasn't making any effort to spend any time with him alone what so ever. When the final bell had finally rung, Jack had been looking forward to walking home with Ianto and finally getting some time alone with him. He loved their friends, really he did, but he wanted his boyfriend all to himself for a bit. Ianto had seemed properly apologetic when he'd told Jack that he needed to stay after school to practice with Lisa for the seating test, giving him a quick kiss before he disappeared down the hallway. But Jack couldn't help feeling a little hurt at being brushed off so easily.

Scuffing his trainers on the sidewalk childishly, Jack turned left at the last minute, heading to the park instead of home. It was a nice day, and even if Ianto didn't want to enjoy it with him, Jack was going to take advantage of the sunshine.

* * *

><p>Lisa bit back a grimace as Ianto hit three more notes out of tune in a row. When they'd played together last week he'd had the piece down near perfectly, but today he seemed lost. Studying her friend closely, she frowned when she noticed Ianto readjusting his shoulder strap for the sixth time since they'd started, and peering closer Lisa took in the circles under her eyes and the tightness of his jaw.<p>

"Ianto this has to stop!"

She said suddenly, startling her friend with the earnestness of her voice. Ianto smiled apologetically, slowly lowering her viola to rest on his knee as he tried to adjust his posture discreetly.

"Sorry Lisa, I know it sounds bloody awful—I just can't concentrate today."

Rolling her eyes in a manner she'd picked up from him, Lisa responded curtly,

"Not the playing, _this—_" she said, gesturing vaguely to where he was sitting stiffly in his chair. Ianto gave her a carefully blank look and Lisa barely resisted the urge to grind her teeth, a definite 'no no' from the list her orthodontist gave her last week.

"You're hurt Ianto. He hurt you again—and I thought you said it was getting better?! You have to tell someone, please."

Ianto thought he heard the door to the class room click open and furiously hissed at Lisa to "shh" before somebody hears her. Taking a deep breath, he turned his attention back to his friend,

"It _was_ better! It was bloody fantastic until I got home from school yesterday, but its fine Lisa, honestly. It was just a one off, things are fine."

Lisa's eyes narrowed in disbelief and hurt as Ianto lied to her face.

"That's what you say every time Ianto! I'm not an idiot so don't treat me like one. Don't lie to me. Things are not fine, he's hurting you. It's not fine."

Shoulders slumped in defeat; Ianto slunk down in his chair feeling thoroughly ashamed for lying to his friend and for avoiding Jack and even Tosh. His chest felt tight and it had nothing to do with his bruises.

"I'm sorry Lisa. I know you're not an idiot, and I didn't mean to lie to you it just—it's automatic. But I'm sorry, you're my friend and you deserve the truth. I _do _trust you, it's just really hard, you know?"

Lisa sighed, still feeling angry but willing to set it aside.

"I know Ianto and I'm sorry too. It's not really your fault is it? I just don't like seeing you hurt, and neither do Tosh or Jack, even Owen. Rhys and Andy too, we all care about you, and we're worried that's all. You do know that you can always come to mine or Tosh' right? Jack's too I imagine. You don't have to stay with him when he's drunk. It's not safe."

Ianto nodded, relief flooding him when Lisa pulled him into a gentle hug. She understood, and she would keep pushing him because she was Lisa and that's what she does, but she'd back off when he needed her too. Maybe Jack would understand too. Of course Jack would, he was amazing like that. He hadn't seemed to be put off by it the other night, even if it was obvious he was concerned. Ianto felt like an idiot for avoiding him all day. If he hurried, he might be able to catch up to his boyfriend before he got home.

* * *

><p>Gwen jumped about a foot in the air when Ianto's voice sounded next to her, just on the other side of the door. She'd been so preoccupied with what she'd just overheard that she'd completely missed the sounds of him packing up and walking toward the exit. Hastily ducking into the far corner, knowing that the door should hide her from view unless anyone looked too closely, Gwen held her breath as Ianto stepped out into the hall, calling a quick goodbye over his shoulder before taking off.<p>

Quickly scurrying away, music books forgotten for the second time, Gwen walked briskly, intent on being far away before Lisa could spot her loitering by the music room. Her mind was racing. Ianto _was _being abused at home, by his tad, and everyone knew but no one had told_ her _anything. That explained why Jack and others kept him around their group despite his serious lack of social skills and overall awkwardness. They obviously felt sorry for him and were trying to protect him. That was so honorable of Jack; protecting his little friend like that.

For a moment Gwen idly wondered why no one was _doing _anything to help poor Ianto, and then dismissed the thought, deciding they obviously didn't know what to do. Lucky for them, Gwen did. This would be perfect. Jack obviously cared for Ianto a lot, like a younger brother or favorite cousin Gwen imagined, and if Gwen were to help Ianto, Jack would not only be impressed and grateful to her, he would worry about his friend less and have more time for Gwen. Absolutely perfect. The best way to help Ianto was to tell someone who actually _could_ help him. She'd tell an adult what was going on and they'd protect him from his tad and then Jack would be free to date Gwen.

She'd have to make an effort to be nicer to Ianto so Jack would know she had his best interest at heart. Poor kid, he was weird but no one deserved to be hit. Least of all by their tad.

* * *

><p>Tosh glanced up from the school computer when Lisa collapsed heavily into the chair next to her.<p>

"How'd it go then?"

The expression on Lisa's face was answer enough and Tosh gave her a quick hug.

"At least you tried. Ianto is stubborn and doesn't like to ask for help. He knows we're here for him, there's really nothing else we can do."

Nodding grimly in resigned agreement, Lisa leaned her head on Tosh's shoulder as she wracked her brain for something, anything they could do to help their friend. With a sigh she gave up for the moment, promising herself she'd work on it later. There had to be something they could do. If only she hadn't promised not to ever tell an adult after what had happened in primary.

...

_It had just passed the one year anniversary of Ianto's mam's death when he came to school one day sporting a black eye and a limp, holding his body awkwardly like every breath was painful. Their teacher had noticed and sent him off promptly to the nurse, an older lady with a kind heart and misdirected good intentions. She was only doing her job, reporting suspected abuse was protocol in these situations. She had no way of knowing. _

_Ieuan was blessedly sober when the two social workers showed up to his house one Saturday morning; he greeted them pleasantly enough, hiding the fact that beneath his smile he was seething. Inviting them in, Mr. Jones let them poke around the house, helpfully pointing out the cleanliness of everything, waving off the near empty cupboards saying payday was Sunday and they'd restock then. _

_He kept his smile firmly in place as he led them upstairs to his son's room and knocked on the door. They asked to speak to Ianto alone, and after giving his son an unreadable look Ieuan retreated back downstairs to switch on the telly. _

_Back in his room Ianto was petrified with fear. He managed a small smile, assuring them that things were rough since his mam died but they were doing alright. Rhiannon was on a study trip until Monday, but she was alright too. Everyone was ok; nothing was wrong, he'd got the black eye in a rugby game and hurt his leg spilling off his bike. _

_They bought it, appeased by the clean home, Ieuan's charm and both children's good grades. Five minutes after they'd left the front door slammed loudly as Ieuan headed off to the pub, returning several hours later drunk and high off adrenaline and rage. Ianto had been in the small back yard on that stupid swing he'd put up when Rhiannon turned three. Pissed beyond reason in both senses of the word, Ieuan had started yelling at his son, calling him names and cursing him for tattling and trying to get his own father into trouble. _

_Grabbing onto the chains of the swing Ieuan pulled his son up until they were eye to eye and shook him forcefully, shouting about cops and foster care with people who were worse than him on a bad day. He told Ianto that his stunt was especially selfish, saying it would hurt Rhiannon more than it would him. Was he really so selfish that he'd make it so his own sister had to go into care? And would probably end up getting molested by some pervert all because Ianto couldn't take a little discipline? _

_As his voice grew louder Ieuan began to pace, moving behind his son to push the swing in time with each punctuation, making it lurch and dance on the chains from where it hung on a tree branch. By the time it happened, Ieuan could no longer see straight. He was so angry and so damn drunk that he didn't notice at first; didn't see Ianto fall, or hear him land on the ground with a sickening _crack!_ It wasn't until he was nearly hit in the face by the empty swing that he realized what happened. _

_When Ianto came back to school on Monday with crutches, his leg in a cast, eyes downcast and begging them all to promise, Lisa understood. It wasn't safe to tell anyone. _

* * *

><p>With a grin that threatened to split his face in two, Ianto jogged across the grass toward the playground. He'd spotted the familiar blue coat hunched dramatically, from its perch across Jack's shoulders where he was sitting atop the monkey bars. Jack loved to climb, he'd always been getting into trouble in school for climbing trees in the yard and 'misusing' the playground equipment, apparently you're not supposed to climb up the slide or atop the monkey bars, or anything else remotely fun.<p>

A voice sounding close to her ear startled Jack from his brooding thoughts and he nearly fell before catching himself when turning his head toward the sound revealed Ianto's smiling face not six inches away from his own. Damn Welshman with his damn stealthy-ness.

"Ianto, you startled me! What're you doing, I thought you were practicing with Lisa?"

The younger boy shrugged awkwardly around a sheepish smile.

"I was, but—I'm sorry."

Jack was mildly confused.

"Uh, for what? I mean, why are you sorry?"

"For sort of ignoring you most of the day, I'm not mad at you or anything. It was just—just an off day."

Smiling again, a bit weaker this time Ianto mentally berated himself for chickening out. Still, just because he wasn't actively avoiding Jack to try and hide, didn't mean he had to actually go and say it, right? Ianto pacified himself with the decision that if Jack outright asked, he wouldn't lie. But he wasn't going to start that particular conversation either.

'Hey Jack how's it going? I'm doing alright, but my tad kicked the shite out of me when he was drunk last night…' Yeah, Ianto didn't see that going over well at all.

They did as much of their homework together at one of the picnic tables as they could, trying to soak up all the UV rays that they could on the unusually sunny day. In between assignments and several breaks to snog, Jack finally got the chance to touch bases with Ianto about Owens party.

"Do you want to go to Owens' party?"

Ianto shrugged, wincing at the small stab of corresponding pain and answered,

"Sure, why not? I haven't missed one of them yet. Should be good, yeah? First party of the year and all. Hey, if you bring your controllers four people can play Xbox instead of just two."

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly,

"I meant to ask if you wanted to go to Owens' party _with me_".

"Yeah, alright. I mean, great!"

Ianto knew he must look like idiot, grinning like that because Jack wanted to go to Owens party _with _him, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Not when Jack was smiling too. Impulsively, he leaned forward and pressed a kiss to Jack's lips, wrapping his arms around his boyfriend's neck and drawing him into a hug. This part of his life was perfect.

TBC


End file.
